History of Valentine's Day

Every year millions of people around the world celebrate Valentine's Day by exchanging flowers, greetings, chocolate boxes and expensive gifts. However, not many of us are aware of the story of St. Valentine and how Valentine's Day originated several centuries ago. The tales surrounding this particular day has many versions. Some believe that it is the day on which the Roman Emperor Claudius II beheaded Saint Valentine for marrying off couples secretly. Another story states that the Roman festival, Lupercalia is celebrated to ward off evil spirits in the city of Rome in order to maintain good health and fertility. Yet another narrative suggests that Valentine was a beloved saint who was locked away in a cell by the Roman king for disobeying the Gods. Children would send him handwritten notes since they loved this person so much. Now, if you are interested in learning more about the history of Valentine's Day, trail down the section below.

The funny part about this event is that there is no confirmed story because there were three different Saint Valentines and all of them were martyred! Some suggest that this day owes its origin to the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Claudius II. This ruler felt that married men turned out to be poor soldiers and thus he was against the very idea of marriage of young couples. But when Saint Valentine defied him and secretly encouraged lovers to get together, the emperor announced his execution.

This day happened to be 14 February 270 A.D., when the great Saint Valentine died. Infact, there are a couple of stories suggesting that this man protected the Christians against any harsh Roman punishments.

A large part of the population maintained that Valentine himself initiated the concept of sending love messages due to the fact that he had once ended a note with the words: ‘from your valentine'. The tale behind this is that during the time of his imprisonment, the saint fell in love with the jailor's daughter. He expressed his feelings for her in the most romantic manner i.e. by writing her a love letter.

One of the most prominent beliefs was that St. Valentine was a very romantic person who laid the foundation for lovers to come forward and express feelings to their loved ones.

No matter what is the history behind Valentine's Day, this day continues to hold great importance among lovers and is celebrated with great vigor and gaiety all over the world.