History of Valentine Day

The History of Valentine Day is obscure and comes in many variations, however, all of the story told are all in relation with love and affection.

The most popular one is the story of Saint Valentine, a priest who lived in the time of Roman Empire. During this time, it was the Emperor Claudius II who ruled. Emperor Claudius II was a cruel Emperor, who wished to create a solid army. In order to fulfill his wish, Emperor Claudius II had to recruit the men, however, most of them refused as they were not willing to separate from their loved ones, wives and children. Due to his, Emperor Claudius become furious and declared that no men were allowed to marry and have a family.
Saint Valentine were not agree with the Emperor and continued to perform wedding ceremony for young men and women secretly. Saint Valentine's attempt was not lasted for very long as his effort was discovered by the Emperor and due to that, he was sentenced to death. During his prison, Saint Valentine met a girl, a jailer's daughter, and felt in love with her. Before his death sentence on February 14th, around AD 270, Saint Valentine wrote a letter for his lover and signed it "Love from Your Valentine". Since of his death, February 14th has become Saint Valentine's day, or more common known as "Valentine Day". Due to this history, people nowadays also tend to send letter expressing love and affection to their loved ones.

Another version of Valentine Day can be connected with the Lupercalia festival. This festival was celebrated during ancient Roman period, in order to honour Juno, who is the queen of Roman's god and goddess. Juno is also known as the God of women and marriage. Lupercalia was a mid-spring festival and celebrated between 13-15 February. During this festival, single girls would write down their names on a piece of paper and placed them in a jar. The single boys would then pick one name from the jar, and the name picked was believed as God's choice for him. The boys and chosen girls would then be partnered during festival. Some relationship did not last for long, however, some of them lasted into marriage and had happy family lives.

Due to the history of Valentine Day, which is always being related to love and affection, this day is now celebrated worldwide, mostly by couples, whether they have married or not, to remind them of their loves to each other. Some people will also use this moment as an opportunity to express their love to the person they fell in love with. Tips for those who are still single: this day is not only celebrated by couples or people who fell in love; it can also be celebrated with friends or with mothers. Valentine Day is the day of gift giving and love expression; whether it is love between couples, love of friendship or love to mothers. It is common that in this special day, people present Valentine Greeting Cards, flowersor chocolate and candyto their loved ones.

Everything always starts with history and continues by the people who honour it in order to remember the moment. Hope that the History of Valentine Day reminds all people that love and affection will always take part in our life, and it is important that we appreciate the loves that come to us during our life.