Valentine's Day (2024)

Valentine's Day (1)Valentine’s Day is a holiday that people celebrate on February 14. It is also called Saint Valentine’s Day. On Valentine’s Day people greet loved ones, close friends, family members, and classmates by sending them cards called valentines. People also give candy, flowers, and other gifts to loved ones. Valentine’s Day gifts often come packed in a red, heart-shaped box.

Valentine's Day (2)People have celebrated Valentine’s Day with thoughts of love since at least the 1300s. According to an old European legend, February 14 is the day when birds pair off each year to start their new families. February 14 is called Valentine’s Day because the Roman Catholic Church honors two saints named Valentine on that day. Both Saint Valentines were ancient Romans of the 200s ce who died for their Christian faith.

Valentine's Day (3)Groups of young men and women once celebrated Valentine’s Day by picking up valentines from a box. The person whose valentine was picked up would become the picker’s “valentine” for a year.

Valentine's Day (2024)

FAQs

Valentine's Day? ›

Valentine's Day 14 February. What is Valentine's Day? St Valentine's Day is an annual festival to celebrate romantic love, friendship and admiration. Every year on 14 February people celebrate this day by sending messages of love and affection to partners, family and friends.

What is Valentines day meant for? ›

Valentine's Day 14 February. What is Valentine's Day? St Valentine's Day is an annual festival to celebrate romantic love, friendship and admiration. Every year on 14 February people celebrate this day by sending messages of love and affection to partners, family and friends.

What is the real story behind Valentines day? ›

Turns out, it was a pretty common name during Late Antiquity. As far as anyone can tell, the Saint Valentine of Valentine's Day was one of two guys preaching the good word in Rome in the third century. One of these two was martyred on February 14th 269, thus giving us the date for his eponymous day.

What is the dark history of Valentines day? ›

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.

What is Valentines day actually? ›

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.

What does the Bible say about 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.

What is the real meaning of Valentine? ›

Valentine's Day was a feast day in the Catholic religion, added to the liturgical calendar around 500 AD. The day was commemorated for martyred saints named—you guessed it—Valentine.

What is the deeper meaning of Valentine's day? ›

While the date is meant to honor Saint Valentine's death and burial, which supposedly occurred in mid-February around 270 AD, some historians believe the date could reflect the Catholic Church's attempt to replace the ancient Pagan celebration of Lupercalia — a fertility festival for the pagan agricultural god Faunus — ...

What is the true meaning of the Valentine's day Massacre? ›

The massacre was an attempt to eliminate Bugs Moran, head of the North Side Gang. Al Capone, who was at his Florida home at the time, was widely assumed to have been responsible for ordering the massacre.

Who was the real killer in Valentine? ›

Adam Carr/Jeremy Melton. Adam Carr, formerly known as Jeremy Melton, also known as Cupid or The Cherub, is the main antagonist of the 2001 film Valentine, based on the 1996 mystery novel of the same name by Tom Savage.

What is the logic behind Valentine's day? ›

Held in mid-February, the festival celebrated the coming of spring with raucous celebrations and fertility rites. At the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius forbade the celebration of Lupercalia, and some suggest that he replaced it with a day to celebrate the martyred St. Valentine.

Should Christians celebrate Valentine's day? ›

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.

What does black mean on Valentines day? ›

6. Black: Healing from a Rejected Proposal. Black might be a favourite of many, but on Valentine's Day, it symbolizes rejection. You just got your heart broken because of a rejected proposal.

What is story behind Valentine day? ›

Valentine defied the emperor's orders and secretly married couples to spare the husbands from war. It is for this reason that his feast day is associated with love.

What is the truth behind Valentine's day? ›

According to History.com, the priest supposedly sent the woman a letter before his execution that he signed off, "From your Valentine." Both of these stories have romantic undertones and cannot be officially verified. All we can say is that Valentine's Day was named for a martyred St. Valentine.

What did Saint Valentine do? ›

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.

What is the purpose of a Valentine? ›

Valentine's Day is a holiday when lovers express their affection with greetings and gifts. It is also called St. Valentine's Day. The holiday has expanded to express affection between relatives and friends.

What is the concept behind valentines day? ›

Another story claims that St. Valentine sent the first “valentine” greeting himself after falling in love with a young woman, possibly his jailer's daughter, while imprisoned. By the Middle Ages, Valentine's Day had evolved into a day associated with courtly love and romantic expression in Europe.

Who was Saint Valentine and what did he do? ›

Saint Valentine was a clergyman – either a priest or a bishop – in the Roman Empire who ministered to persecuted Christians. He was martyred and his body buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14, which has been observed as the Feast of Saint Valentine (Saint Valentine's Day) since at least the eighth century.

Why do people give valentines? ›

More importantly though, they may ask: why do we give Valentine's Day cards anyway? The custom of trading valentines seems to have begun in Europe and the United States in the 18th century, but some legends attribute the exchange of affectionate greetings to St. Valentine himself.

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