KissMeGoodnight.com Article Series: Valentine's Day
Tips & Ideas For A Romantic Valentine's Day

What's The History of Valentine's Day?

Valentines Day is arriving! Like every year you are planning to celebrate the day with your special person. Valentines Day is the day of romance when lovers exchange gifts, flowers and love messages among each other. But why do we celebrate the day as the day of romance? There are many stories associated with the day of Romance. But it is believed that the day is celebrated in the name of a saint called St. Valentine. The origin of the lovers’ day dates back in fourth Century in the time of the Roman Empire.

In the ancient times the Romans used to have a festival known as Lupercalia, which was celebrated in ancient times in the honor of Roman God of fertility Lupercus. The festival was held on 15th of February every year. On the eve of Lupercalia a name drawing custom was held in which the names of the teen-age girls were written in a slip of paper and was placed into jars. Each young man used to draw a girl’s name from the jar and she used to be his beloved for the whole year. Since then the day 14th February is considered to be the day of love- a day when lovers express their feelings and spend the day together.

Valentines Day is celebrated in the name of St. Valentine, a bishop who existed in 3rd Century Rome when the city was ruled by Emperor Claudius II. Claudius did not want his soldiers to fall in love or get married. He believed that single men make better soldiers than those with wives and children. He therefore banned love and marriages in his kingdom. The bishop St. Valentine thought it to be an injustice to the young hearts. He defied the emperor’s order and started conducting marriages of young couples secretly. When Claudius got the whiff of the bishop’s heinous deeds he ordered that the bishop must be thrown into the dark dungeon. While in jail bishop Valentine made friendship with the jailor’s blind daughter Julia. He gradually fell in love with Julia. When Claudius came to know about the matter Valentine was assassinated. On the day of his death the priest wrote a farewell message to Julia and signed it by writing “from your Valentine”. Thus the great man who gave up his life for love was chosen to be the ‘saint of love’. He died on 14th of February and so the day is celebrated as the day of lovers.

Even before the theory of Valentines Day the lovers of different countries used to celebrate the spring festival in the month of February. In Italy during the spring festivals young men and women used to listen to love poems and romantic music spending some intimate and romantic moments together. This custom of pairing of young couples was also popular in France. In England names of young maidens were written on papers and put on bowls. Then young men would draw names of the young girls from the bowls and choose their sweethearts who would be their mates for that whole year.

Therefore February has always been the season for lovers even before the popularity of Valentines Day. There is also a popular belief that even the lovebirds chose their soul mates during this month specifically on between 14th and 15th February. No doubt why those colorful always in pair lovebirds are associated with lovers and Valentine’s day!

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by KissMeGoodnight.com : 2006

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