The Valentine’s Day equivalent of Santa, Jack is also known to leave useless gifts or play tricks with people. In Norwich, United Kingdom a person called Jack Valentine randomly visits people and leaves Valentine’s Day gifts in front of their doors.Today, Valentine’s Day has moved away from its religious origins and has become a well-known holiday celebrated worldwide, with many cultures creating their own traditions: Valentine on April 24, July 6, or July 30. Eastern Orthodox denominations celebrate the Feast of St. Valentines include the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Churches. Other Christian denominations that still observe the Feast of St. Catholics in Balzan, Malta, where relics associated with the Saint have been thought to be found, also observe the Feast of Saint Valentines. Valentine’s is still observed by some local Catholic Churches that follow the traditional Catholic calendar. It was replaced by the Feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius. In 1969, the Roman Catholic Church removed the Feast from its calendar. During the Victorian era, Richard Cadbury of the Cadbury chocolate fame marketed heart-shaped chocolate boxes adorned with flowers and cherubs, which also soon became well-known symbols of February 14. Soon, other industries started competing for the Valentine’s Day market. Today, Americans spend around a billion dollars every Valentine’s Day on greeting cards, while the British spend about 45 million pounds. They were ornamented with flowers, ribbons, and images of cupid or love birds. Early versions of Valentine cards were fashioned out of satin and lace. The tradition of exchanging Valentine’s Day letters and poems crossed the seas to the United States in the 1800s. The first recorded Valentine’s letter is dated 1415 and was a French poem written by Charles Duke of Orleans to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. With Chaucer’s poem, the idea of February 14 as the day of love quickly became popular. It is possible that Chaucer didn’t literally write a poem describing the mating season of birds, but was instead referring to the marriage of King Richard II (1367–1400) and Anne of Bohemia. The bestselling author of Canterbury Tales published a poem called “The Parliament of Fowls.” He wrote, “Seynt Valentynes day” is the day birds chose their mates. Valentine’s Day as the day of lovers likely owes its existence to Geoffrey Chaucer, the English writer and poet. Pope Gelasius I, however, was very critical of Lupercalia, so it is unlikely that he was using it to base his version of the Feast of St. Unlike the romantic nature of Valentine’s Day, Lupercalia was a festival filled with violence and ritual sacrifice to please Lupercus, the Roman God of Fertility. It is sometimes thought that the Feast of Valentine was a nod to Lupercalia, a Roman pagan festival celebrated on February 15 in Rome. Before being beheaded, he wrote a love letter to her, signing it “Your’s Valentine.” Lupercalia: The Ancient Roman Festival Valentine fell in love with his jailer’s daughter while in prison. Some historians, however, claim that no such ban on marriages ever took place.Īnother popular but unproved story is that St. The most popular story is that he was secretly marrying Roman soldiers. Valentine took on new myths making February 14 the day for lovers. In the 5th century, Pope Gelasius I designated February 14 as the feast day of St. Both Valentines lost their heads for converting Romans to Christianity and performing miracles.ĭue to the similarities in their stories, some scholars believe that the two Saint Valentines were actually a single person. It is thought that at least two Valentines: Saint Valentine of Rome and Saint Valentine of Terni, were executed on February 14 by Roman Emperor Claudius II.
It’s commonly accepted that the holiday is named after a Saint Valentine. Valentine’s Day can be found in ancient Christianity. Valentine’s Day is not a legal public holiday anywhere in the world. Business Date to Date (exclude holidays).
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