Having a lover or someone you adore? Then Valentine day is the day to express your love or adoration towards them. This is a day that is celebrated world over. During this day, which is normally celebrated on the 14th day of February, people celebrate it by sending flowers, chocolates, and cards full of love messages to express affection for one another. Though in most countries it is not a public holiday, it is celebrated with pomp and dance on the evening of the day.
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Valentine’s Day History: How Did Valentine’s Day Get Its Name?
According to history books, the name originated from a Catholic priest, St. Valentine, who lived in the 3rd century. He was a kind hearted Roman priest. He was martyred on or around that date on the 14th day of February in 270 CE.
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During his priesthood, Emperor Claudius II banned marriages because he thought married men were a bad soldier. But he, St. Valentine defied the order and arranged marriages in secret, and this led to his arrest and sentence to death. He suffered a very painful death… was beheaded.
How Did Valentine Day Start?
There are various theories on how the Valentine Day came to be. Some of them include
While in prison, he fell in love with a jailer’s daughter, and when he was being taken to be killed on the 14th February, he wrote a love letter to her and signed it “From your Valentine” and there, the name Valentine for the lover was born.
Another theory has it that the Catholic church used St. Valentine’s martyrdom to Christianize the old Roman Lupercalia, a pagan festival held around the middle of February, Valentine’s day in remembrance of this Marty.
Another theory links Valentine to two Roman saints, both known by the name Valentine and both unconnected to romantic love. The first mention of St. Valentine as a romantic holiday is seen in Chaucer’s writings of 1382. During this period, there was concentration on a certain love which was referred to as courtly love. Here, the Knights gave to their maidens and celebrated beauty in songs while they are far away. By 1840s Valentine Day as a romantic holiday had taken root in most English speaking countries. This was referred to as the cupid’s golden age. Cards and gifts were exchanged.
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Another theory states that after St. Valentine was martyred, it’s only 200 years later that the Valentine Day started being celebrated on 14th of February. This happened after Rome had become Christian and the Catholic church was determined to replace anything pagans to Christianity. On 14th February, it used to be a day when the pagans celebrated a fertility ritual ceremony. This was turned into a Christian holiday and Christian Valentine Day in honor of the martyred St. Valentine. First linked to the point Chaucer to romantic love in the middle age.
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The theory about St. Valentine writing a love letter to his lover and signing it “from your Valentine” is what lovers around the world believe in.
What Symbols Are Associated With Valentine Day And Reason Behind It?
There are very many symbols which are associated with this lover’s day vary and have been used from time and again. We have the popular heart sign up to the less popular one, the rebus. Let us mention them in no special way, just randomly.
• The Heart Sign
Many people believe that the heart is where all the feelings reside. So when you draw a heart to someone on Valentine’s day, it symbolizes that you are giving them your love feelings selflessly without reservation.
• The Ribbons, Laces, and Frills
Remember those days when knights used to ride into battlefields sporting the handkerchief given to them by their lovers. In ancient times, Laces were used in making women’s handkerchiefs. So when a woman dropped a handkerchief in the path of a man, this man automatically knew that the lady wanted him to love her.
• Cupid
Cupid is an ancient mythological god, who is traditionally ascribed to the love and feelings a woman and a man feel for each other. It is a Latin word meaning “ desire.” It is a sign which is represented by a symbol of a naked boy with wings and having a funny smile. With him is a bow and arrows which are supposedly used to shoot the hearts of maidens and youth.
• The Rose
Since ancient times, roses have been a symbol of love expression. The word eros is gotten from juggling the letters of the word Rose; he is a god of love. This makes the rose to be the choice of loves for time immemorial. The red color is associated with strong emotions,
A lavender rose symbolizes enchantment and uniqueness
An orange rose represents fascination
Dark pink rose means thankfulness, friendship, and admiration.
The red rose represents love, respect, and courage.
Pale pink rose represents grace, joy, and happiness.
Deep red rose represents beauty and passion A feeling of humility and true love is expressed by giving out a white rose.
A feeling of humility and true love is expressed by giving out a white rose.
Yellow rose represents when you feel hope and freedom, true friends indeed.
When you get a black rose know that it is bye bye from your love.
A combination of red and white roses represents unity or engagement.
A combination of yellow and orange roses represents passionate thoughts.
Modesty and sympathy are represented by peach roses.
The combination of yellow and red represents congratulations.
Rosebud represents beauty, youth and a heart innocent of love.
White Rosebud represents girlhood.
One dozen red roses represent “I love you.”
A single red rose in full bloom represents “I love you.”
Tea roses represent “ I will always remember you.”
• Hands of A Lady
The hands of a lady have always been used to depict feminity. It is believed the two hands, one of a lady and another of a man is that of Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert; used as a symbol of friendship between Germany and England. The lady’s third finger has a jeweled ring and frilly cuff to enhance the beauty.
• Doves and Love Birds
In ancient times, it was believed that birds used to get their mates during February 14th. And for the doves, it is believed that they mate for life, its symbol on Valentine symbolizes loyalty, love, and fidelity. The doves found on valentine’s items are called lovebirds. They are found in Africa, and they always tend to be cozy with each other and can’t survive without their partner. When used on a Valentine item, it also symbolizes love, fidelity, and loyalty.
• Puzzik
This was used in ancient times. It is a kind of a puzzle on paper. When the recipient gets the paper, he/she unfolds it and has to decipher the hidden message, then be able to refold back the paper as it was. Used by loves to send secret love messages on valentine’s day.
• Rebus
This was a riddle send to a loved one. They were in the form of romantic verses written in ink with some words missing. To make it easy to grasp the full sentence, a picture was drawn alongside the dotted sentence.
• Love Knots
These are knots made from ribbons, and they normally symbolize interminable and everlasting love.
Why Do Some People Hate Valentine?
Valentine is the only day in the year where people celebrate romantic love by exchanging flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards, it doesn’t add up to say that, there are individuals who hate this lovers’ day. Some people tend to hate valentine’s day. They have varied reasons as to why. The anxiety, fear and stress associated with Valentine are at times too much to bear. Think of what if your lover doesn’t show up; what if they don’t like what you have bought for them; what if you don’t like what they bring to you; what if your lover comes empty handed to the V-day date? All this to many, makes them hate valentine’s day with a passion
Other reasons why some people hate valentines include:
• Being alone on a Valentine day can cause depression in both adults and teenagers.Valentine reminds them that they are lonely. This alone makes them wish that the day never was.
• On V-day, the best restaurants are overbooked, making it hard for some people to get reservations at their favorite joints.
• When you are in a relationship, you feel penalized because everyone expects you to do something great for your partner, and if you don’t, you are judged.
• This holiday drives people to make desperate purchases like going online for matchmaking services. They have to forgo important needs to meet the demand of having a mate on this particular lover’s day.
• On Valentine day, things tend to be extra expensive; dinners, flowers, chocolates name them. But the lovers don’t seem to mind. On this particular day, dinner might cost you four times the normal price, same to chocolates and flowers.
• Days before Valentine are popular for proposals and exclusive dating commitments, after Valentine, most relationships break up due to unfulfilled promises. Valentines seasons bring about feelings of doing or die.
• Most kids tend to associate valentines with getting gifts, once they are indoctrinated when they are still young, it is hard to erase that feeling as they grow up.
• Love is more than giving and receiving gifts but Valentine day makes people associate love with giving and taking gifts which are a wrong notion. V-day makes us believe that, without giving and receiving gifts, we will never know love.
Why Chocolate For Valentine?
During valentine’s day, a box of chocolate is a must on the menu of the lovers. They find so romantic to share the chocolate, why is this so? Is it because of its health benefits, satisfying or is it the tradition being followed? I think the tradition part wins it all because, since time immemorial, chocolates have always been exchanged on Valentine day.
In 1861, Richard Cadbury came up with the first ever heart-shaped box for Valentine day and thus began the association of chocolates and Valentine Day. Other supporting factors that make Cadburys a delicacy on Valentine day include but not limited to:
• According to science, chocolate has a chemical called phenylethylamine which is linked to feelings of excitement, pleasure, and even attraction.
• Chocolate has always been seen as a symbol of seduction; it has a history as a love food
• It is a proven fact that chocolates increase the desire and energy levels. It releases Endorphins and Endorphins makes one happy, so chocolates are good for Valentine Day… to make one happy
• Chocolates are gotten from a Theobroma cacao tree. Theobroma in Greek translates to “food of the Gods” and if chocolate is good for the gods, why not for one’s lover?
• It has psychological effects on people. Once taken, one feels need to apologize, express delight, happiness, initiates desire, show love, and rekindle the friendship. All these feelings are good on a V-day.
Are There Benefits of Celebrating Valentine Day or Not?
Celebrating Valentine can distract you from the issues affecting your relationship. You can end up sugar coating them to please your lover instead of dealing with them head on. It is good, to be honest, and talk about the issues with your other half instead of assuming everything is ok in the relationship.
Celebrating Valentine can be a sign that your relationship is failing. If you are truly in love with someone, you need to shower them with love on a daily basis and not only on Valentine day. Doing it only on Valentine day might be a sign that you don’t have time for each other and your love speedily going underground.
It is good to celebrate Valentine because it might rekindle that love you feel for each other. It will bring memories of your first love, and in most cases, if you work on it from this day onward, your love life might just be rekindled. Rose delivery should be done by yourself and not a florist; get close and intimate with each other on this particular day to retrieve your love from the bottomless pit it might have fallen along the way.
Valentine day is such a wonderful day, the commercialization of it all is what sucks. The commercialization is what does more harm than good for relationships today and tomorrow. Done properly, valentine day can show you that you need to work on your relationship to make it successful. Utilize this day to get your love back on the truck.
Finally, it is best if you and your significant better half work out for a Valentine LIFE other than a Valentine DAY that comes only once in 365 days.
