Happy Valentine's Day 2024: Valentine's Day falls annually on February 14. The celebrations for the day of love begin a week before, starting with Rose Day and ending with Kiss Day. The seven days of Valentine's Week are Rose Day (February 7), Propose Day (February 8), Chocolate Day (February 9), Teddy Day (February 10), Promise Day (February 11), Hug Day (February 12), and Kiss Day (February 13).
While each of these days holds much significance, Valentine's Day is for lovers to celebrate the unbreakable bond, the romantic moments, and the precious feelings they have for each other. Couples celebrate this special day by enjoying each other's company, going on dinner dates, planning surprises, preparing romantic gifts, and more. So, if you want to learn more about Valentine's Day, scroll through to read about its history, significance and why celebrate it on February 14. (Also read | Valentine's Day 2024 live: Heartfelt wishes and images to share with your parents and children)
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Valentine's Day 2024 Date and History:
The are many origins to Valentine's Day. However, the most popular legend says that Valentine's Day originated from the Roman festival of Lupercalia, held in mid-February. It was celebrated during the onset of spring, wherein women were paired with men through a lottery. It was Pope Gelasius I who replaced this festival with St Valentine's Day. It was celebrated as the day of romance for over a period of time from about the 14th century.
Another legend says that St Valentine was executed on February 14 as a punishment for performing secret marriages to save the husbands from going to war, as they were banned by Roman emperor Claudius II.
According to Roman mythology, Cupid, the angel of love, is the son of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, and the bow and arrow of Cupid depict piercing a heart and casting the spell of love. Cupid is also a popular symbol for Valentine's Day. Therefore, this festival is all about celebrating the feeling of being in love.
Why do we celebrate Valentine's Day on February 14?
Valentine's Day was not celebrated as the day of romance until the 14th century. The 8th-century Gelasian Sacramentary recorded the celebration of the Feast of Saint Valentine on February 14. However, in the 14th and 15th centuries, it became associated with love when notions of courtly love flourished with the association of "lovebirds" of early spring.
Valentine's Day 2024 Celebrations:
Popular culture dictates that couples celebrate Valentine's Day. And there's nothing wrong with it. However, you can also spend it with the people who mean a lot to you and love you. They can be your parents, kids, or friends. If you are celebrating Valentine's Day with your partner, a romantic gesture goes a long way. Take them out to dinner at their favourite restaurant or cook their favourite cuisine for a romantic candlelight dinner date at home, prepare handmade gifts for them, buy jewellery pieces or a watch, go on trips, book hobby classes to build memories, and more.
However, if you plan to spend Valentine's Day with your parents, kids, or friends, prepare a day filled with fun activities. With your parents, you can help them finish off their chores, help them spruce up their garden, or reminisce about your childhood. If you spend the day with kids, plan activities like hiking, cycling, painting, and more. Lastly, Valentine's Day with friends can be super fun. You can plan movie nights, binge-watch your favourite series, make co*cktails at home, and plan themed parties.
News/Lifestyle/Festivals/ Valentine's Day 2024: Know Valentine's Day history, significance and why we celebrate the day of love on February 14
It was celebrated as the day of romance for over a period of time from about the 14th century. Another legend says that St Valentine was executed on February 14 as a punishment for performing secret marriages to save the husbands from going to war, as they were banned by Roman emperor Claudius II.
The 8th-century Gelasian Sacramentary recorded the celebration of the Feast of Saint Valentine on February 14. The day became associated with romantic love in the 14th and 15th centuries, when notions of courtly love flourished, apparently by association with the "lovebirds" of early spring.
On this 14th of February, 2024, hearts around the world beat to the rhythm of love as Valentine's Day arrives once more. It's a day dedicated to celebrating love in all its forms, whether it's romantic, platonic, or familial.
Valentine's Day did not come to be celebrated as a day of romance until about the 14th century. Although there were several Christian martyrs named Valentine, the day may have taken its name from a priest who was martyred about 270 ce by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus.
On this day in 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa and offered a bounty for the assassination of author Salman Rushdie, whose novel The Satanic Verses (1988) Khomeini denounced as blasphemous.
If that works for you, do it. But the biblical pattern teaches us that romantic love between husband and wife should be on display often and much. It isn't that celebrating Valentine's Day is too much; it is too little and weak. Christians, live your married years so that you don't need Valentine's Day.
1 John 4:7-12. Dear friends: let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
While the holiday has undergone secularization over time, its origins in Christian martyrdom and acts of love align with broader spiritual themes of compassion, selflessness, and devotion. For some, Valentine's Day serves as a reminder of the importance of love in both human relationships and spiritual practice.
One Valentine was a priest in third-century Rome who defied Emperor Claudius II after the ruler outlawed marriage for young men. St. Valentine would perform marriages in secret for young lovers, ultimately leading to his death.
In the afternoon of February 14, 2019, a Jaish-e-Muhammad terrorist rammed an explosives-laden car into a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at Lethpora, a village in Pulwama, on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. The attack targeted two buses in the convoy, and killed 40 personnel.
Here are some of the notable people celebrating birthdays today, including Danai Gurira, Jim Kelly, Rob Thomas, Brett Dier, Drew Bledsoe, Jake Lacy, Simon Pegg, Matt Barr, Michael Bloomberg and Renee Fleming.
Tuesday, February 13, 2024 – The House of Representatives narrowly voted to impeach the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, which makes him the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached in nearly 150 years. The vote ended 214 to 213, with three Republicans voting against the measure.
One Valentine was a priest in third-century Rome who defied Emperor Claudius II after the ruler outlawed marriage for young men. St. Valentine would perform marriages in secret for young lovers, ultimately leading to his death.
According to legend, St.Valentine signed a letter “from your Valentine” to his jailer's daughter, whom he had befriended and healed from blindness. Another common legend states that he defied the emperor's orders and secretly married couples to spare the husbands from being conscripted to serve in war.
However, many historians believe the day originated from the Roman pagan festival of fertility called Lupercalia, an event filled with animal sacrifice, random coupling and the whipping of women; not quite the romantic chocolate and roses day that we celebrate today.
Medieval Europeans believed that many birds mated on this day, underscoring the link of Valentine's Day's to affection and courtship. They pictured cozy pairs of doves as the epitome of love and devotion, thus the term “lovey-dovey.” Doves were the classic lovebirds, and favorites, too, of Cupid's comely mother, Venus.
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