How did Valentine Day came about?
138296
It has something to do with a priest named Valentine who continued doing marriages even though it was forbidden in his part of the world.  Eventually, the church executed him.  On his last day, he sent someone a note and signed it, "Love, your Valentine."  For this, Hallmark makes millions every year.
83028
the roman catholics started it! it is SAINT valentine's day. believe it or not, back in mideval times, almost every day celebrated the life of some saint. now, pretty much only saint patrick's day and saint valentine's day live on, since hallmark has found ways to make money off of them. \nanyways, st. valentine's day is just a day to celebrate the life of st. valentine, the patron saint of love.
93244
Cause it had became a marketing tool of the retail business.  Valentines day won't suck if you could express your love to those you should love.  Not limited to lovers!  Could be your parents, friends, and the poor.  Expensive presents is just a show off of wealth rather than show off of love :)
168508
valentine:\n<[After saint Valentine] \nWord History: Lovers and the greeting card industry may have Geoffrey Chaucer to thank for the holiday that warms the coldest month. Although reference books abound with mentions of Roman festivals from which Valentine's Day may derive, Jack B. Oruch has shown that no evidence supports these connections and that Chaucer was probably the first to link the saint's day with the custom of choosing sweethearts. No such link has been found before the writings of Chaucer and several literary contemporaries who also mention it, but after them the association becomes widespread. It seems likely that Chaucer, the most imaginative of the group, invented it. The fullest and perhaps earliest description of the Valentine's Day tradition occurs in Chaucer's Parlement of Foules, composed around 1380, which takes place “on Seynt Valentynes day,/Whan every foul cometh there to chese [choose] his make [mate].”
82677
People make to much of Valentine's Day. It's just another day of the week. There shouldn't be a certain day to make someone buy the person they love something. It just makes them feel guilty so they do. If you truely love someone you shouldn't have to have a certain day to show it, just SHOW IT!! My husband & I will do the same thing we do eveyday , wake up, thank the Lord for those you love & all you have!
167167
Legend has it that while St. Valentine was in prison--awaiting execution for defying a Roman emperor's edict against conducting marriages--he fell in love with his jailor's blind daughter.\n\nThrough unwavering faith, the story says, Valentine restored the woman's sight. Then, before his execution, he slipped her a farewell note signed "from your Valentine"--the original Valentine's card.
2774
I've always loved the time-frame that spans from right before Thanksgiving to Valentine's Day.  You've got several holidays in there...special times when people stop & realize that Love is a *verb* & treat each other accordingly.  :)  But, thanks to my fiancee & his 5 little girls, CHRISTmastime has become more special than I ever thought possible!
138411
it was named after st.valentine
110401
:}\nValentines Day wouldn't be the same without a visit from Cupid, the winged cherub with a bow and arrow which he uses to place people into love.\nThe origins of Cupid can be traced back to the days of the Roman Empire. Cupid is a Roman God, the symbol of passionate love. (He is the son of Venus, who remember is the Goddess of Love.) Cupid fell madly and completely in love with Psyche, whom it happened was a mortal. This did not please Venus at all and she gave Psyche a particularly hard time, consistently tempting her and driving her off. Eventually, through a small series of human faults, Psyche was tempted to look into the ‘box of beauty’ and when she did, she unleashed a deep slumber onto herself. Cupid then came to Earth and searched the world for her. He found her in her deep sleep. His love for her was so strong though that he was able to take the sleep from her and place it back into the box. Then he used an arrow to pierce her heart and awaken her.
888251
The Origins of St. Valentine's Day\n\nA quick quiz: St. Valentine was:\n\na)  a priest in the Roman Empire who helped persecuted Christians during the reign of Claudius II, was thrown in jail and later beheaded on Feb. 14.\n\nb)  a Catholic bishop of Terni who was beheaded, also during the reign of Claudius II.\n\nc)  someone who secretly married couples when marriage was forbidden, or suffered in Africa, or wrote letters to his jailer's daughter, and was probably beheaded.\n\nd)  all, some, or possibly none of the above.\n\nIf you guessed d), give yourself a box of chocolates. Although the mid-February holiday celebrating love and lovers remains wildly popular, the confusion over its origins led the Catholic Church, in 1969, to drop St. Valentine's Day from the Roman calendar of official, worldwide Catholic feasts. (Those highly sought-after days are reserved for saints with more clear historical record. After all, the saints are real individuals for us to imitate.) Some parishes, however, observe the feast of St. Valentine.\n\nThe roots of St. Valentine's Day lie in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, which was celebrated on Feb. 15. For 800 years the Romans had dedicated this day to the god Lupercus. On Lupercalia, a young man would draw the name of a young woman in a lottery and would then keep the woman as a sexual companion for the year.\n\nPope Gelasius I was, understandably, less than thrilled with this custom. So he changed the lottery to have both young men and women draw the names of saints whom they would then emulate for the year (a change that no doubt disappointed a few young men). Instead of Lupercus, the patron of the feast became Valentine. 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.\n\nThere was also a conventional belief in Europe during the Middle Ages that birds chose their partners in the middle of February. Thus the day was dedicated to love, and people observed it by writing love letters and sending small gifts to their beloved. 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
78566
Saint Valentine or Saint Valentinus refers to one of at least three martyred saints of ancient Rome. The feast of Saint Valentine was formerly celebrated on February 14 by the Roman Catholic Church until the revised calendar 1969.\n\nThe feast of St. Valentine was first decreed in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who included Valentine— and Saint George— among those "...whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God." The creation of the feast for such dimly conceived figures may have been an attempt to supersede the pagan holiday of Lupercalia that was still being celebrated in 5th century Rome, on February 15.\n\nAccording to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the saint whose feast was celebrated on the day now known as Valentine's Day was possibly one of the three martyred men who lived in the late 3rd century during the reign of Emperor Claudius II (died 270):\n\na priest in Rome \na bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) \na martyr in the Roman province of Africa.
150255
valentine's day came from St. Valentine. He is a roman priest in nearly 600-700 a.d. In his time, roman should praise their roman god and godess, but valentine worship Chrsit, our God. That's why the emperor of that time decided to persecute Valentine. While he was in the jail, waiting for his persecution, Valentine wrote a letter for his love ones. He was persecuted and died february 14. \n\nEvery year, his family and friends celebrate his death by sharing their love to each other. When valentine became a saint. The tradition of his family spread all over the world. Thats how valentine's day originatred.
109931
well..here it is..\n\nEveryone thinks they know the origin of Valentine's Day. According to the most commonly accepted story, Emperor Claudius of Rome issued a decree forbidding marriage in the year 271. Roman generals had found that married men did not make very good soldiers, because they wanted to return as quickly as possible to their wives and children-and they didn't want to leave them to fight the emperor's battles in the first place. So Claudius issued his edict that there should be no more marriages, and all single men should report for duty.\n \nA priest named Valentine deemed such a decree an abomination, and he secretly continued to marry young lovers. When Claudius learned of this extreme act of disobedience to his imperial command, he ordered the priest dragged off to prison and had him executed on February 14.\n \nFather Valentine, the friend of sweethearts, became a martyr to love and the sanctity of marriage, and when the Church gained power in the Roman Empire, the Holy See was quick to make him a saint.\n \nThe early Church fathers were well aware of the popularity of a vast number of heathen gods and goddesses, as well as the dates of observation of pagan festivals, so they set about replacing as many of the entities and the holidays as possible with ecclesiastical saints and feast days. Mid-February had an ancient history of being devoted to acts of love of a far more passionate and lusty nature than the Church wished to bless, and the bishops moved as speedily as possible to claim the days of February 14 through 17 as belonging to Saint Valentine, the courageous martyr to the ties that bound couples in Christian love.
533321
Here is a website that tells about how different wedding traditions of various cultures:\n\nhttp://www.vfwpost1503.org/different_cultures.htm\n\nHere are Valentine's Day traditions from different countries:\n\nhttp://www.stvalentines.net/traditions.htm\nhttp://www.romanceclass.com/miscr/vday/traditions.asp\nhttp://www.internet-at-work.com/hos_mcgrane/holidays/2_melissa.html\nhttp://www.romanceeverafter.com/valentine's_day_around_the_world.htm\nhttp://www.everythingvalentinesday.com/valentine-day-traditions/valentine-in-others.html\n\nSince most countries observe Valentine's Day~this was the best place to look for celebrations of love in other cultures.  I hope this was helpful in your research!
116557
Actually the valentines day is an idea for commercial businesses related with gifts, greeting cards(both online and offline), chocolates, flowers etc. and most of the other special days like fathers day, mothers day, teachers day etc. are same.\nThough I arrange something special for me & my fiance in this day. have u ever listen the word "extra care". It's a day [14 feb] to take an extra care for your beloved one... nothing so special.\nThanks.
52715
Its a day when u show ur significant other how much u love and appreciate them although u should be showing them everday but for the people who dont...why not take one day out of the year to just appreciate and love ur mate.
55237
Nothing special as my hubby and I don't believe we need a special day to show our love to one another. Or a commericial reason to buy something. It is actually our rule to not buy flowers during the months of Feb and May as they jump the price so much as to make it ridiculous..Why does everyone have to have a special day to say I Love You! Should not this be done daily in a relationship? This is a day to make those with no partner feel alone and I think it is so sad to see so many feel like that because so many fall for commericial bulllll.