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Article Series: Valentine's Day
Tips & Ideas For A Romantic Valentine's
Day
The
History of Valentine's Day
Love has many different meanings in every
single language but there is a universal traditional day when
people express their inner feelings for each other, either
love or friendship. Valentine's Day was coined as the exchange
day for those with these naturally feelings for others, throughout
all cultures.
The origins of Valentine's day are traced back to the Medieval
era associated with the Catholic Church feast day, but love
and fertility nexus with this particular date falling on February
14 comes from the ancient times of Greece, when the Athens
calendar included a period between mid January and mid February
called the Gamelion, a month dedicated to the sacred marriage
of Zeus and Hera, hence associated with love and fertility.
Lupercalia, the festival of Lupercus, the God of Fertility,
was the equivalent in the Roman Empire and taking place on
February 15, time of purification rituals. Lupercus was represented
as a half-naked man dressed in goatskins. His priests sacrificed
goats to the god on this day and after drinking wine, they
ran through the Roman streets holding pieces of goat and touching
anyone in their run including women in the belief to receive
an easy childbirth.
There is no written reference about how Saint Valentine became
the romantic love protector, in fact the Catholic martyrologies
mention three different Saint Valentines under the date of
February 14; a priest in Rome, a bishop of Interamna, and a
martyr in the Roman province of Africa, making even more obscure
the origins of this celebration.
However, in the 5th century the feast of Saint Valentine was
officially decreed to be on February 14 by Pope Gelasius I
during the year 496. In a later assumption, this could be just
an attempt to supersede pagan holidays like Lupercalia celebrated
in Rome until then. Apart from this historical setting, the
rest is just legends.
Throughout time, the gift of blooming wild
flowers was a common practice to demonstrate romantic love
or affection between
partners on Valentine's Day. Daisy flowers became a sort of "yes-no" love
divination. Today, daisies have their own meaning of innocence
and loyal love, associated with the fifth wedding anniversary.
During the 19th century, roses took their place having different
meanings according to their color or numbers of flowers given
on Valentine's Day. It was during the Victorian century when
relics exhumed from the Roman catacombs of Saint Hippolytus
were identified with Saint Valentine.
In 1836, the relics were donated by Pope Gregory XVI to the
Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland, but
once again, the obscure origins of Valentines (or Valentinus)
and his relics are alleged to lie at the reliquary of Roquemaure
in France and in Sankt Stephans Kirche in Vienna.
Instead of an uncertain Saint image, the 19th century associated
the figure of the winged Cupid to Saint Valentine's Day, along
with and heart-shaped outline cards and paper cuts to be sent
with flowers on this day, tradition remains today when a wide
array of flowers can be chosen online and delivered anywhere
just by placing your order via the internet.
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by KissMeGoodnight.com
: 2010
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