The origin of Valentine’s Day
The day of heart-shaped festivity when people show their fondness and endearment for another person by sending them chocolates, flowers, and cards along with messages of love has a historic and fascinating story. The day gets its name from a priest from Rome dating way back to the third century AD, St. Valentine.
It is said that Emperor Claudius II had prohibited the practice of marrying as according to him marrying made men poor soldiers. But Valentine felt that this was unfair, and he broke the law and started arranging marriages in secret for Roman soldiers. This made him an advocate of love in a lot of people’s eyes. However, when the Emperor found out, Valentine was jailed and given a death sentence. It is believed by many that to honor him, the Catholic Church established St. Valentine’s Day. While some others believe that while being imprisoned for his acts, he grew affectionate and eventually fell in love with the jailor’s daughter and when he was being taken to be killed on the 14th of February, he wrote a letter to her with the sign “from your Valentine”, which made it a common-to-use-phrase from that day and a laid a foundation for the day to be celebrated.
Another story is that the day was designated by Pope Gelasius I to replace the ancient Roman festival, Lupercalia, which used to mark the celebration of fertility and was dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture.
Whether or not these stories and speculations are true will probably be never found out by us. But what we know about love and the day on which we celebrate the emotion is that there are no rules. One can celebrate the day however they want, even if it is through self-love.