Valentine's Day is an annual holiday that honors lovers around the world. It is celebrated on February 14 by sending Valentine Greeting cards, gifts or even writing poems for expressing affection. Usually the cards, which are called Valentines, are designed with hearts to symbolize love.
This is probably derived from the ancient Roman feast of Lupercalis, sometimes called Lupercalia. The feast celebration was held through February 13 till 15. In an annual rite of fertility, eligible young men and women would be paired as couples through a town lottery. Briefly clad or naked men would then run through the town carrying the skins of newly sacrificed goats dipped in blood. The women of the town would present themselves to be gently slapped by the strips and marked by the blood to improve their chances of conceiving in the coming year.
Later, when Christianity dominated Europe, pagan holidays such as Lupercalia were renamed after early Christian Martyrs. In 496, February 14 was officially declared to be feast day of two Roman martyrs, both called Saint Valentine, by Pope Gelsius. Surprisingly, neither Saint Valentine had any connection to courtship or lovers.
Despite the constant attempts of the Christian church to sanctify the holiday, the association of Valentine's Day with love and romance continued through the Middle Ages. In France and England it was believed that the birds mated on February 14, then the birds symbolized love on drawings and poems written. By 18th century, it became a custom that on this particular day, lovers exchange love notes and poems. By the 19th and 20th century, lovers started to exchange greeting cards and fancy lunch and dinner invitations. Nowadays, Valentine's Day is celebrated through sending cards and short poems as email and short cell phone messages.
Valentine's Day is now the second only to Christmas as the most popular card-sending holiday.
As much as people argue about the origins of this holiday, they all agree on one thing; Valentine’s Day is an amazing day for expressing love and friendship in the purest of ways. Valentine’s Days is the only day in the year when you walk through the streets and actually feel the love in the air.
