historical valentine

  

Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine.But who is this mystery, and why we are celebrating the holy holiday> this? History of Valentine's Day - and the patron saint - is shrouded mystery. But we know that February has long been a month of romance. St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains the remains of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. So, the Saint Valentine, and how he became associated with this ancient rite? Today the Catholic Church acknowledges at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of the martyrs. 

One of the legends of the opinion that Valentine was a priest who served during third century Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than with his wife and family, it prohibits marriage for young people - military potential harvest. Valentine, realizing the injustice of results, against Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions has been found, Claudius ordered that he be sentenced to death. 

Other stories say that Valentine may have been killed for trying to help Christians to escape harsh Roman prisons where they were often beaten and tortured. 

According to one legend, Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine falls in love with a young girl - who may have been his jailor daughter - who visited her during captivity. Before his death, he alleges that he wrote the letter, which he signed 'From Valentine,' an expression still used today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories certainly emphasize the attractiveness of a sympathetic, heroic, and most important, romantic figure. It's no surprise that in the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France. 

Whilst some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in mid-February to commemorate anniversary of Valentine's death or burial - which probably occurred around 270 AD - another claim that the Christian church may have decided to celebrate Valentine's feast day in the center in February in an effort to 'Christians' celebration pagan Lupercalia festival. In ancient Rome, February was the official beginning of spring and is regarded as a time for purification. Houses are cleaned with the ritual sweeping them out and then sprinkle the salt and the type of wheat called spelled the interior. Lupercalia, which began on the Ides of February, February 15th, was the fertility festival dedicated Faunus>, the Roman god of agriculture, and the founder of Rome Romulus and Remus. 

To begin the festival, members Luperci, order of Roman priests, would gather at the sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome, which is believed to have been nurtured by a she-wolf or forgotten. The priests would then sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. 

Boy and goat hides longitudinal slice, dip it into the blood of the victims and take to the streets, gently slapped her and fields with crops goathide path. Far from being afraid, she is touched with the hides of Rome celebrated as the slices are believed to make them more fertile in the years to come. Day, according to legend, all the young women in the city to put them in big jars. Singles city would then select their name from the jar and a couple for the year chosen by women. The competition is often ended in marriage.Pope Gelasius state February 14 St. Valentine's Day around 498 AD The Roman 'lottery' system for a romantic partner is not considered Christians are forbidden. Then, during Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England the February 14 is the beginning of birds' kimpoi season, which added to the idea that the middle of February - Valentine's Day - should be a day of romance. Valentine's Day of the oldest surviving poem is written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to the wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London after his capture in the Battle of Agincourt.Salam, which was written in 1 415, was part of a collection of manuscript British Library in London, UK. Several years later, believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to write a valentine note to Catherine of Valois. 

In the UK, started a popular Valentine's Day is celebrated around the seventeenth century. In the mid-eighteenth century, it was common for the friends and lovers in all the social classes to exchange small sign of affection or handwritten notes. At the end of the century, printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready to use cards an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when a direct expressions of a feeling discouraged. Cheaper postage is also contributing to increasing popularity of sending Valentine's Day greetings. Americans may start each hand-made valentine cards early 1700's. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began to sell the first mass production of Valentine in the U.S.. 

According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.) 

Approximately 85 percent of all valentine cards bought by the women. Besides the United States, Valentine's Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, France, and Australia. 

Valentine greeting how popular Medieval (written Valentine's did not start appearing until after 1400), and the oldest Valentine card is on display at British Museum. The first commercial Valentine's Day greeting cards produced in the United States was created in the 1840s by Esther A. Howland. Howland, known as Ms Valentine, made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and pictures of colorfully known as "scrap"