Valentine’s Day History

5,114 views

Every year in the month of February millions of lovers and friends exchange flowers, chocolates and gifts, all in the name of St. Valentine. However, the Valentine’s Day history and its patron saint’s is still a mystery. Some legends suggest that Valentine was a priest during the third century in Rome. Claudius II was the reigning King in this period and he had outlawed marriage for young men, as he thought single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families. However, our dear priest Valentine defied this injustice and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret (Till death sets us apart). Soon Valentine’s actions reached the King and as history would have it, he was put to death. Though some other stories suggest that Valentine may have been executed for helping Christians escape the harsh Roman prisons.

But you see, there also are some who associate the Valentine’s Day as a celebration to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial. Then again the popular modern sources link it to unspecified Graeco-Roman February holidays. If you have studied history(I haven’t!!), you will know that in ancient Rome, officially February was the beginning of spring and was considered a time for purification. Though we still are a little lost about the origin part of valentine’s day, still we have the first recorded association of Valentine’s Day history with romantic love. It can be found in Geoffrey Chaucer’s, Parlement of Foules which was written in 1382. The lines of the poem go like this:

For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese [choose] his make [mate].

He had written this poem to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia. In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day gained much popularity around seventeenth century (don’t ask me why?!)and by the middle of the eighteenth century, it was a common occasion for friends and lovers in all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes.

Soon by the end of eighteenth century in the Valentine’s day history, printed cards replaced written letters with the advancements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one’s feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine’s Day greetings (Are they expensive now?). Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland (farsighted, she showed the business potential!!) began to sell the first mass-produced valentines in America. She took her inspiration from an English valentine she had received. Her Valentine card was an elaborate creation with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures. Since 2001, the Greeting Card Association has been giving an annual “Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary.”

Coming to the second half of the twentieth century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manner of gifts in the United States, usually from a man to a woman. Such gifts typically include roses and chocolates. In the 1980s, the diamond industry began to promote Valentine’s Day as an occasion for giving jewelry. As a joke, the Valentine’s Day is also referred to as “Singles Awareness Day.” So true, never in life the bane of singleness seems so hard to bear than on this day.

According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas every year. Now with the romantic day coming closer, most of us will be combing the Internet for ideas and gifts. There are many companies like:

Who stock some of the best gifts and invitations for the Valentine’s Day. However, before you choose anything for the Valentine’s Day, do make sure that you choice ranks high both in quality and creativity. Happy Valentine’s Day!!

del.icio.us Digg Furl Reddit Ma.gnolia StumbleUpon Help

Subscribe to comments Comment | Trackback | Share This