Do a search in Google with “Valentines Day” and you will get 22,100,000search results. The same search in Yahoo will get you 329,000,000 results. Simply shows how much popular this day is to people around the world.
Past - History (I know you have heard it several times)
The History of Valentines day and its patron saint is still a mystery. There are lots of arguments going on regarding the exact origin and history regarding this day. St. Valentine's Day has got both Christian and ancient Roman traditions attached to it. So, who was Saint Valentine? How did he become associated with Valentines Day? Today, the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. But all these Valentines were martyred for their stand for love and companionship till their last breath.
According to the most popular legend Valentine was a priest who lived during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of this law, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.
Another legend says that Valentine actually sent the first "valentine" greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl who may have been his jailor's daughter who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed "From your Valentine," an expression that is still in use today. Valentine was seen as a heroic and romantic figure. It's no surprise that by the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France.
In Great Britain, Valentine's Day gained popularity around the seventeenth century. t was common for friends and lovers in all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes by the middle of the eighteenth century. By the end of the century, printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began to sell the first mass-produced valentines in America.
Present (I don't have to tell you this, do I?)
Today Valentine's Day has become a traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other; sending Valentine's cards, or offering candy. It is very common to present flowers on Valentine's Day. Different flowers presented during Valentines Day means different things. For example a Red rose means love, a yellow rose means friendship and orange rose means fascination.
In this internet era, e-cards have to some extent given way to traditional valentine's greeting cards. Boyfriends are mostly gifted with wines, flowers, shirts, ties, wallets, gadgets or chocolates etc while girlfriends are gifted with flowers, chocolates, jewelry, a special romantic dinner etc.
