Why do we Celebrate Valentine`s day ? 

Valentine’s Day is known  in many countries  around the world as a cultural and commercial celebration of romance. Since we were kids, at school we all wrote valentine`s day cards to our classmates, or told  the person we loved how we felt about them.

Valentine’s Day is a major source of economic activity such as  Restaurants, candy shops , gifts shops and Florists , since everyone is looking for  a place to take their loved ones, or something to give to that special person to express their love.  

Only in  the United States, about 190 million Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, without including the hundreds of millions of cards children exchange n schoool.

But do you know  the history of Valentine`s day ,  why  or when this  day  became associated  with romantic love? 

History of valentine`s day

In The Dictionary of Christianity, J.C. Cooper writes that Saint Valentine was a priest of Rome who was imprisoned for helping  Christians  who were persecuted by the roman empire. Was imprisoned performing weddings for soldiers, who were forbidden to marry. 

 In Ancient Rome, Lupercalia,was an archaic rite connected to fertility that occurred February 13–15. Lupercalia was a festival local to the city of Rome, although there has been claims by many authors, there`s no evidence of thislink. 

The first  known association of Valentine’s Day with romantic love appears in Parlement of Foules   written  in 1382  by  the eEnglish poet Geoffrey Chaucer.

in Parlement of Foules  chaucer wrote:  «For this was on seynt Volantynys day

Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make».

«For this was on St. Valentine’s Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate.»

It became an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by giving flowers, and sending greeting cards «valentines» , in England in the 18^th century . The Valentine’s Day symbols most common today include the heart-shaped outline, the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.

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