Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14 every year, especially in the United States of America, Great Britain, Canada, and Australia. It was subsequently adopted in several European countries, including Romania, in Asian countries such as China and South Korea, in South America and Africa. In other countries, Valentine’s Day is considered a day when family members show their love to each other, as well as to friends. Some traditions also include gifts for children. At the same time, many other countries have their own holiday dedicated to love.

The beginnings of Valentine’s Day are lost in the mists of time. The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentine, all martyrs. One of the legends says that Valentine was a priest in Rome in the 3rd century. When Emperor Claudius II decided that young men could be much better warriors than those who had wives and families, he forbade the first to marry. The priest Valentine, realizing the injustice of this law, spoke out against Claudius and continued to secretly marry the young lovers. When his actions were discovered, the Roman emperor ordered the priest killed, according to history.com.

Many claim that this priest was St. Valentine of Terni, the bishop, the real patron of this holiday. And he was beheaded by order of the same emperor outside the walls of Rome. Other legends state that Valentine was killed for his attempts to help Christians escape from Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one of the legends, a prisoner named Valentin, in love with the daughter of the prison administrator, before his death sent her his first love letter (the first “valentine”), which he signed “From your Valentine.” is still used today.

It was not until the end of the fifth century, in AD 496, that Pope Gelasius I decided that the day on February 14, when Valentine was executed, should bear his name and be dedicated to his martyrdom, thus putting an end to the pagan celebration of Lupercalia, and the festival in honor the arrival of spring with rituals of fertility and finding a couple. Saint Valentine, known as Saint Valentine of Rome, existed as a person whose memory is commemorated on February 14 in the Roman Catholic calendar. The martyr was buried in the cemetery on Via Flaminia, in the northern part of Rome.

The first valentines appeared in the Middle Ages

The medieval English poet Geoffrey Chaucer was the first person to celebrate Valentine’s Day as a day to celebrate love, in his 1475 poem The Parliament of Fouls, his lines include: “For it was sent on Valentine’s day / Wan every foul comes there, to choose a mate.” In modern terms, the lyrics might read: “It was on Valentine’s Day, when every bird flies there to choose a mate.” These lines reflect the widespread medieval belief that birds mate in mid-February, a belief that resonated with Valentine’s Day, which became the “patron saint of lovers,” according to https://www.scrapbook.com/.

Greetings on this day were popular in the Middle Ages, but written messages did not begin to appear until after 1400. The earliest surviving Valentine’s Day message was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while imprisoned in the Tower. of London, after his capture at the Battle of Hagencourt. The written communication is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, United Kingdom. A few years later, King Henry V apparently hired a writer named John Lydgate to write a “valentine” to Catherine de Valois, notes https://www.greetingcard.org/.

In Great Britain, this day became popular around the 17th century. By the mid-18th century, it was common for friends and lovers from all walks of life to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and by 1900, printed Valentine’s Day cards had begun to replace written letters thanks to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made greetings were an easy way for people to express their emotions at a time when direct expression of feelings was not encouraged. Cheaper postage rates have also contributed to the growing popularity of sending Valentine’s Day cards.

America’s first Valentine’s Day gifts

Americans probably began exchanging handmade valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland (1828-1904) began selling America’s first mass-produced valentines. The businesswoman, also known as the ‘Mother of Love’, created intricate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful designs. According to the Greeting Card Association, about 190 million Valentine’s Day cards are sent in the U.S. alone today, making it the second largest holiday of the year after Christmas.

Valentine’s Day is adopted in several European countries, including Romania, in countries of the Asian continent such as China and South Korea, in South America and Africa, Australia. In other countries, Valentine’s Day is considered a day when family members show their love to each other, as well as to friends. Some traditions also include gifts for children, while others are a token of appreciation between friends. At the same time, many other countries have their own holiday dedicated to love. In this sense, we recall Dragobetele, which Romanians celebrate on February 24 and which preserves some attributes of the god of love in Roman mythology, Cupid, who is the patron of love and good mood.