History and symbols of Valentine's Day

When people mention Valentine's Day, many different thoughts come to mind. The first thought, obviously, is the fact that it is considered the most romantic day of the year. However, many other things come to mind as well, such as, hearts, flowers (particularly roses), Cupid, even the color red. All of these symbols are well known by adults and children alike. Yet, how many know the origin of some of them? Many of these traditions have a story behind them, especially St. Valentine's Day itself.

St. Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is celebrated in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. Every February, people give their loved ones candy, flowers and gifts all in the name of this romantic holiday. How did this day originate? Valentine's Day is said to have come from a priest named Saint Valentine who lived in Rome during the third century. At this time, Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius, who was not liked by the people or by Valentine. Emperor Claudius wanted to have a large army and expected men to volunteer to join. However, he was having trouble because not many men wanted to sign up. It turned out that the men didn't want to fight in wars because they didn't want to leave their wives and families. This obviously made the emperor angry. He felt that married men made poor soldiers, so he came to the conclusion that if there were no marriages then men would be more willing to join the army. Since he needed soldiers, Emperor Claudius decided to abolish marriage. Saint Valentine was against this law and decided to perform marriage ceremonies anyway, but in secret. One night while he was performing a ceremony, he was caught by soldiers, put in jail and sentenced to death. On Feb. 14, around 270 A.D., Saint Valentine was clubbed, stoned and beheaded. In 496 A.D., Pope Gelasius declared that day St. Valentine's Day.

Another version claims that Saint Valentine was arrested for helping Christians. While he was in jail, he fell in love with the daughter of a prison guard. On Feb. 14, the day of his death, he wrote a farewell message to her and signed it "From your Valentine," which is an expression that is still used today. There are other versions of this story but each one shows Valentine as a sympathetic, heroic and most of all romantic figure.

Valentine's Day Cards

According to the Greeting Card Association, Valentine's Day is the second largest card sending holiday with an estimated one billion cards sent each year (Christmas is the largest with an estimated 2.6 billion cards). Young Roman men introduced this custom by offering women whom they admired handwritten greetings of affection on Feb. 14., the cards acquired St. Valentine's name. As Christianity began to spread, so did the Valentine Card. The earliest card was sent in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans. He sent it to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and it can now be seen in the British Museum.

In the seventeenth century, Valentine's Day began to become popular in Great Britain. By the middle of the eighteenth century, it was common for loved ones to exchange gifts or handwritten notes. Americans probably began exchanging handwritten Valentine's in the early 1700s. By the end of the century, due to the improvement of technology, printed cards began to replace handwritten notes. Ready-made cards were a much easier way of expressing one's feelings during a time when the direct expression of emotions was discouraged. The first commercial Valentine's Day cards were created in the U.S. in the 1840s by Ester A. Howland.

Red, White and Pink

Red is the symbol of warmth, feeling and the color of the human heart. White, which is the absence of all color, represents purity and faith between two people who love each other. Pink is seen as a delicate, almost innocent shade of red. Since it is a mixture of both red and white, it can be seen as representing both warmth and purity.

Hearts

The heart is an old symbol that represents undying love. Centuries ago, people didn't know that the heart pumped blood throughout the circulatory system. However, they did know that the heart beats faster when someone is excited. For this reason, they believed the heart to be the center of all of our emotions and feelings. The heart represents giving oneself whole-heartedly and stands for the most intense human emotion, which is love. To give one's heart to someone means to give that person your whole being since the heart is the center of one's own existence.

Cupid

Cupid, whose name in Latin means "desire," is the most famous of the valentine symbols. He is the son of Venus, the goddess of love. Cupid is often depicted as a chubby, naked boy with wings armed with a bow and arrows. The arrows signify desire and emotions of love. According to the myths, anyone who is hit by one of Cupid's arrows will fall in love with the first person they see. In Greek literature, he was often seen as the beautiful but cruel personification of desire. Most of the time, Cupid was portrayed as a mischievous symbol of passionate and playful love, which makes it easy to understand why he represents a day like St. Valentine's.

Roses

The rose is the most popular flower in the world and has been the choice of lovers in every century. According to Greek literature, roses were the sacred flowers of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. In fact, if you rearrange the letters of the word "rose," they spell the name of the god of love "Eros," Aphrodite's son. Also, there are actually different meanings for each different color rose. A red rose symbolizes passion, beauty, peace and war, love and forgiveness. White roses represent true love and purity of the mind. Yellow roses represent friendship and pink roses symbolize sweetheart or friendship.

"X" for a kiss

There are two different stories behind this. One says that the tradition started in medieval times when people who couldn't write were allowed to sign documents with an "X." The signer would then place a kiss on the "X" to show sincerity. Soon the letter became synonymous with the kiss and "X" became commonly used at the end of letters as kiss symbols.