by Charmaine Green

Created on: February 03, 2009

Valentine's Day has a very obscure history. Nobody knows for sure how this day came about. This is mainly built up from stories and legend's.

One of these legends says, that a Saint Valentine, who lived in Ancient Rome, during the third century is celebrated. During Emperor Claudius the seconds reign, Emperor Claudius, outlawed marriage, under the belief that single men mad better soldiers. Saint Valentine took it upon himself to marry couples in secret. When Emperor Claudius eventually found out about this, Valentine was arrested and sentenced to death.

Many people have heard stories, where Saint Valentine helped Christians, who where imprisoned in Roman prisons. These stories mainly follow the lines, that Valentine helped the imprisoned Christians escape. When Valentine was caught in the act, he was immediately executed.

Another legend focuses on Valentine sending a card to his loved one with the message, "From your Valentine" inside. This phrase is still used today. It is believed he sent this card to a young lady, while he was imprisoned and awaiting trial.

All the legends seem to focus on three main factors, Valentine's heroic efforts, his romantic side and his willingness to do what he thought, in his heart and soul, was right.

During the middle ages, Saint Valentine became one of the most popular Saint's. It was down to his compassion, love and romantic nature, that made him so popular and the way he sent a loved one a card, even though he was facing death.

The Catholic Church celebrated Saint Valentine's day, until 1969 when the holiday was cut from the Catholic calender. The reason for Catholics celebrating this day was very unclear. One main fact that kept coming up was, the Catholic's wanted to phase out the Pagan festival of Lupercalis. They replaced the Pagan festival with Valentine's Feast which later became Valentine's Day.

It is believed that this special and romantic day, is celebrated in the middle of Feburary, as the bird's themselves, find partners and mate during this time. It is believed that Feburary is a time for love piece and joy and just like the bird's, we ourselves should find our mate.

The sending of "love letters" originated from Geoffrey Chaucer. He wrote a letter for his lover, with the line's "For this was sent on seynt Valentine's day, when every foul cometh ther to choose his mate." This is where the belief of love notes, sent on February 14th comes from.

The sending of flowers to loved ones is believed to have come from Roman times, when Valentine was imprisoned and awaiting trial. Valentine's supporters and followers, threw flowers at his cell window as a sign of love, peace and kindness. That is where a lot of people believe, that sending flowers originated from.

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