THE HISTORY OF VALENTINE'S DAY

Valentine's Day has become a special day marked by love. Like many other holidays steeped in time and tradition, there are varying accounts as to the historical roots of this celebration.

Here is one account...

In the days of ancient Rome, the fourteenth day of February was a pagan holiday which honored Juno. Juno was the queen of the Roman gods as well as the goddess of women and marriage.

The next day, the fifteenth, was the first day of the Festival of Lupercalia. This festival honored Juno and Pan who were two Roman gods. Fertility rituals were held on this day.

On the night before the festival started,it was customary for the names of the Roman girls to be written on slips of paper.

These slips were then placed in a container and then each boy drew a name of the girl who he would be coupled with for the entire Lupercalia festival.

Rome was under the authority of Emperor Claudius the Second, and he was a vicious warrior, not to mention the fact that he was insane.

His armies lacked the sufficient number of soldiers it needed, and Claudius could not figure out why more young men didn't want to go to battle.

Finally, he determined that the young men didn't want to leave their wives, families and girlfriends. In order to remedy this, the Emperor instituted a new law and canceled all of the marriages and engagements in Rome.

In the mean time, there lived a priest in Rome by the name of Valentine. He did not believe in the Emperor's new law, and he refused to abide by it.

He continued to perform wedding ceremonies in secret. He lived in constant fear that he would be caught by Emperor Claudius' soldiers, but he persisted in doing what he knew was right.

Finally, the day did come when Bishop Valentine was caught uniting a man and a woman in the bonds of holy matrimony. The soldiers dragged him to stand before Emperor Claudius' throne. The Emperor condemned the Bishop to be put to death for his violation of the law.

While the priest was imprisoned, waiting for his execution, many young couples threw notes of thanks along with flowers and other gifts into the window of his cell.

Among these young people who admired the priest for doing the right thing was the prison guard's own daughter. Her father allowed her to visit Bishop Valentine in his cell.

During these visits, the two would talk and laugh and share each other's thoughts. Finally, the day arrived when Bishop Valentine was scheduled to die.

It was the fourteenth of February in the year of 270 AD.

While he was waiting for the soldiers to come and drag him away, Bishop Valentine composed a note to the girl telling her that he loved her. He signed it simply, "From Your Valentine."


Finally, in the year 496 AD, Pope Gelasius did away with the pagan Festival of Lupercalia, citing that it was pagan and immoral. He then chose Bishop Valentine as the patron saint of lovers, who would be honored at the new festival on the fourteenth of every February.

For Roman men, the day continued to be an occasion to seek the affections of women, and it became a tradition to give out handwritten messages of admiration that included Valentine's name.


Legend has it that Charles, Duke of Orleans, sent the first real Valentine card to his wife in 1415, when he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. (He, however, was not beheaded, and died a half-century later of old age.)

In the 16th century, it appears the first gifts exchanged hands, with the passing of the paper valentine. A tiny card, usually handmade, was given anonymously to another.

Great Britain began to celebrate Valentine's Day around the 17th century, also passing anonymous cards to loved ones.

During the 1800s, paper cards were replaced by much larger, hand-painted copperplates, often molded into the shape of a heart. In later years, the copperplates were replaced by woodcuts and carvings and lithographs.

By the middle of the 18th century, it became common tradition for all social classes to give small tokens of love or secretive, handwritten notes.

BACK TO TOP

VALENTINE FACTS

It is believed that the "Valentine" is the first ever greeting card.

The first mass-produced Valentines were made in the 1840s by Esther Howland.

One billion Valentine Cards are sent each year.*

Valentine's Day is the second largest card-sending and receiving day each year.*

Valentine's Day is celebrated in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia.

BACK TO TOP

1. If you've got melted chocolate all over your hands, you're eating it too slowly.

2. Chocolate covered raisins, cherries, orange slices & strawberries all count as fruit, so eat as many as you want.

3. The problem: How to get 2 pounds of chocolate home from the store in hot car. The solution: Eat it in the parking lot.

4. Diet tip: Eat a chocolate bar before each meal. It'll take the edge off your appetite and you'll eat less.

5. A nice box of chocolates can provide your total daily intake of calories in one place. Isn't that handy?

6. If you can't eat all your chocolate, it will keep in the freezer. But if you can't eat all your chocolate, what's wrong with you?

7. If calories are an issue, store your chocolate on top of the fridge. Calories are afraid of heights, and they will jump out of the
chocolate to protect themselves.

8. If I eat equal amounts of dark chocolate and white chocolate, is that a balanced diet? Don't they actually counteract each other?

9. Money talks. Chocolate sings.

10. Chocolate has many preservatives. Preservatives make you look younger.

11.Q. Why is there no such organization as Chocoholics Anonymous?
A. Because no one wants to quit.

12. If not for chocolate, there would be no need for control top pantyhose. An entire garment industry would be devastated.

13. Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done.

BACK TO TOP

CLOSE WINDOW

Direct to Ecards

Dino-Dragon-World.com

CREATED © JANUARY, 2005    WWW.WITTICISMSINK.COM