History of Valentine's Day

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Every year February comes to celebrate the new hopes of lovers all over the world. St. Valentine's day or Valentine's Day falls on February 14 on which lovers express their love towards each other; sending anonymous gifts, valentine's cards or candy. The history of Valentine's Day is obscure, and further clouded by various fanciful legends. However the records of this festival of love dates back to AD 197 and associated with three ancient martyrs named Valentine.

One of the St. Valentine was a priest in Rome, another a bishop in Terni, and of a third St. Valentine almost nothing is known except that he met his end in Africa. During St.Valentine's time the Roman Emperor Claudius II prohibited the marriage of young men, claiming bachelors made better soldiers. St. valentine attracted the emperor's anger by secretly performing marriage ceremonies but was eventually apprehended by the Romans and put to death. Another legend regarding St. valentine is that, he fell in love with his jailer's daughter, before he was executed. He sent a letter to his love before the punishment signed " from your valentine."

While some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial, others claim that the Christian church may have decided to celebrate Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to 'christianize' celebrations of the pagan Lupercalia festival. Lupercalia, which would begin at February 15, was a fertility festival during which Men found their partners. In medieval England and France, Valentine's Day began during the Seventeenth Century and lovers began to exchange gifts or love letters by the end of eighteenth century. The British Settlers imported valentine's Day to their colonies during the 19th century. In the second half of the 20th century, the practice of exchanging cards extended to all types of gifts. In the 1980s the diamond industry, began to promote the day as an occasion for giving jewelry.

Valentine's Day got evolved through centuries. It was not until the 14th century that this Christian feast day became definitively associated with love. It is widely believed that Chaucer first associated Valentine's Day with romance. In 1381, Chaucer composed "The Parliament of Fowls," in honor of the royal engagement between England's Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. The oldest known valentine note still in existence today is a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife in 1415 while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. Esther A. Howland of North America created the first commercial Valentine's Day greeting card in the 1840s. Howland, known as the Mother of the Valentine, made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap". Today however valentine notes have a booming commercial success. Valentine's day becomes more popular on each year, spreading the message of love and compassion in human souls.