Saint Valentine

Valentine’s Day is named after the Saint Valentine of Rome. The day is celebrated for express and sharing of love. There are a lot of tales behind the day and the legend person St. Valentine. The modern age does not query into depth of the reason rather celebrate as an auspicious day for love making. People do enjoy and extract as much methodological to celebrate it fabulously. The day has been reasonably modified and extended towards modern thoughts and use full. We cannot stop the evolution of any trend with the time and necessity. We do not know what the shape will be of the love day, which name after St. Valentine, after a century.

The present celebration is confined to the love and romance that adds the excitement and value to the human life. There are various types of gifts in different shape of love symbols become the message of love. The relationship goes better between husband and wife; boy and girl. The longevity of relationship is based on such occasions that the legend person has gifted to the world.

We remember Saint Valentine on the Valentine's Day. The day is known as Love Day. The 14th February is that memorable day observed by the entire world. St. Valentine was a Roman who was martyred for refusing for giving up Christianity on Feb. 14, 269 A.D. The Roman Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine, all of whom were martyred. St. Valentine may have been imprisoned and later killed for helping Christians to escape harsh punishment in Roman prisons. The heart full love of St. Valentine inspires us to love. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (1908), there are three different Saints Valentine, all of them martyrs and all quite obscure, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under the same date of 14th February.

One is Priest in Rome who suffered martyrdom in the second half of the 3rd century and was buried on the Via Flaminia. Another Bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) also suffered martyrdom in the second half of the 3rd century and was also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than the priest. And Martyr in North Africa, about whom little else is known.

The history does not speak widely on the connection between St. Valentine and romantic love. It is not mentioned in any early histories and is regarded by historians as purely a matter of legend. The feast of St. Valentine was first declared to be on 14th February by Pope Gelasius I, in 496. He created the day to counter the practice held on Lupercalia of young men and women pairing off as lovers by drawing their names out of an urn, but the same practice is not forwarded to the modern age.

In the 19th century, relics of St. Valentine were donated by Pope Gregory XVI to the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland. That place has become a popular spot of pilgrimage on 14th February.

There were a number of saint days of purely legendary origin in 1969; the St. Valentine's Day was removed from official holiday from Church’s calendar.

Significantly the link of 15th February in ancient Rome was with Lupercalia, the festival of Lupercus, the god of fertility, who was represented as half-naked and dressed in goat skins. They had a purification ritual, where the priests of Lupercus would sacrifice goats to the God. After drinking wine, they would run through the streets of Rome holding pieces of the goat skin above their heads. They used touch anyone they met. Young women believed on touching the skin they could bring easy childbirth. So they come forth voluntarily for this occasion. The popularity of the Valentine's Day rose among the people and in tune with it Pope Gelasius set aside 14th February to honor St. Valentine, the patron saint of love and romance.

History:

Though the St. Valentine’s Day is based on the theme of many legends, still the origin of the Day is still uncovered. There are varying opinions hidden in mystery. People celebrate today has remnants of both Christian and ancient Roman traditions. According to some evidences, legends Saint Valentine served as a priest at the temple during the reign of Emperor Claudius. St. Valentine challenged favoring marriage for young men against Claudius’s forbidden rule. And the king had jailed Valentine for his challenge.

Besides the philanthropic activities of St. Valentine favoring people, there is an interesting love story between St. Valentine and the jailor's daughter was heard. St. Valentine left a farewell note for her, saying -from your Valentine. That note impressed an emotion of St. Valentine, which reflects on the lover’s note today also.

Valentine's Day is said to have started in the ancient Roman Empire on 14th February. That was a holiday to honor Juno, who was the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romanians regarded her as the Goddess of women and marriage. So the following day, 15th February, began the festival of Lupercalia, in honor of Lupercus. Women took participation in the festival for their childbirth.

The extension of Valentine’s Day came up to White Day, 14th March, on the day men are supposed to return the gift to those who gave them gifts on Valentine's Day. Originally the return gift was supposed to be white colored chocolates or marshmallows. But the trend shows many men give different gifts only to their girlfriends. Even the trend shows the gift such as dresses, lingerie, cards. Women also especially those who work in offices gift to their colleague as an obligation. They give chocolates to all their male co-workers, sometimes to any special person.

There is a day called Back Day, on 14th April in Korea celebrated by the people who did not receive any gift from anybody on Valentine's Day. They gather together to eat Chinese-style noodles with black sauce.

Hence the love day is now diversified in different angle of by different people with unchanged St. Valentine’s Day.