Every year we celebrate love on 14th February, but who was St Valentine?
Its hard not to notice that the shops are filled with everything from bouquets of beautiful red roses to enormous cute soft toys, boxes of chocolates and many other love tokens. But who was St Valentine and why do we celebrate romance on 14th February.
One legend has it that Valentine was a priest in the third century in Rome. Emperor Claudius decreed that soldiers should not be married as it weakened their performance. Valentine, however, continued to perform marriage ceremonies in secret, which ultimately led to his execution.
Another legend claims that Valentine, having been imprisoned for helping Christians, allegedly wrote a letter to his jailer’s daughter. He signed the letter ‘From your Valentine’ and the date……14th February.
Valentine met his untimely death in both cases, but both legends are touched with love and romance.
Today, February 14th has become a huge commercial date on every retailers’ calendar. Every year we spend a staggering £1billion exchanging greetings cards. Just in the UK, sales were up by 4.3% last year. And that’s not including all the gifts & flowers bought. Romance is certainly not dead!
However and with whom you choose to celebrate this most romantic of occasions, have a very happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day!