Happy Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Day is the most romantic day of the year! It’s a day when people – especially couples – celebrate love and romance. Like most holidays in North America, we celebrate by buying gifts and spending money on things like cards, flowers (usually red roses), dinner at a nice restaurant, or gifts like jewelry, chocolates and candies. I think it’s a lot of fun! February can be kind of boring, because it’s another cold month during our long winter, so this is a great way to break the monotony!

Even people who are not in a relationship still buy cards and candies for their friends and family. Everywhere you go right now, you see red and pink Valentine’s decorations like hearts and flowers and Cupids, while people wish one another “Happy Valentine’s Day!” It’s tradition for school children to exchange Valentine’s Day cards with each other. I remember when I was really young, maybe 5 or 6 years old, my entire class made and decorated colourful Valentine’s Day boxes, in which we could put our cards for each other!

It’s not an official holiday – nobody gets the day off of work! – nonetheless it is an important North American tradition. Where and how did this tradition begin?

When did Valentine’s Day start?
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word Valentine comes from the name of two early Italian saints. Actually there is more than one St. Valentine recognized by the Catholic Church, because different forms of the name Valentine were very common in the Roman Empire and early Middle Ages in Europe (Valentine comes from the Latin word for ‘valour’). Each saint had their own ‘feast day,’ a day when they were celebrated. Not much is known about the actual St. Valentine whose feast day was Feb 14th, and in 1969 he was even removed from the official list of Catholic feast days, so it is no longer a religious holiday.

Some people point to 14th century English writer Geoffrey Chaucer and his poem Parliament of Foules as the first mention of the St Valentine’s feast day associated with romantic love: (line 309) For this was on seynt Volantynys day Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make/ For this was on Saint Valentine’s day, when every bird comes there to choose his mate. He did not specifically mention February 14th as St. Valentine’s Day, though. The idea of passing love notes (now known as ‘Valentine’s Day cards’) became popular in mid-18th century England. In 1797 there was even a book written – The Young Man’s Valentine Writer – to instruct young men on how to write love notes!

Another character who also appears around Valentine’s Day is Cupid! Cupid is the personification of love, desire, passion and all things romantic. In Roman mythology, he was the god love (the son of Mercury in Venus). In Greek mythology, his name was Eros, the son of Aphrodite. He is always shown as a small chubby boy with a bow and arrow. He aims and shoots his arrow at people and causes them to fall in love!

Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day or a similar day in your country? What do you do on that day?

(In English x= a kiss, o = a hug, therefore xo = hugs and kisses)

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