Speak Out: Valentine's Day
by Valerie (Angel of Music)

Every year we celebrate Valentine's Day, but do many people actually know the origins of the day? These days, we know everything with this day is mass-marketed and commercialized. Many people figure, if they're single, it's only a day to make them feel worse. To others, it's a sacred day celebrating their love for another. I decided to delve a little further into this to see where it actually originated and what it's all about.

On February 14th, we celebrate Valentine's Day, a day when those in love traditionally express their love for each other. The most traditional gifts are candy, flowers and Valentine's cards; more recently, diamonds have also become a gift given on this day. In the Middle Ages, courtly love flourished, and thanks to Geoffrey Chaucer, the day became linked with celebrating this courtly love. Up until the 19th Century the notes, or valentines, were handwritten; after that they tended towards the mass-produced versions. Modern symbols of this day include Cupid and hearts. After the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Valentine's Day slowly died out; in 1840 Valentine's Day was revived. Valentine's Day has come to also be associated with greeting people on a more platonic level with "Happy Valentine's Day".

The name Valentine's Day comes from two early Christian martyrs who had the last name of Valentine; many martyrs of that time were named Valentine, but only two specific ones derived the name for Valentine's Day: Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. Before Chaucer, Valentine's Day only honored the martyrs, and there was no link to anything related to romantic love. There is some debate as to whether ancient Greek and Roman holidays in February celebrating love and fertility are also linked to Valentine's Day. This day is now celebrated in many countries all over the world, each having their own Valentine's traditions.

Here is an excerpt from wikipedia explaining the legend of St. Valentine:

The Early Medieval acta of either Saint Valentine were excerpted by Bede and briefly expounded in Legenda Aurea. According to that version, St Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing the blind daughter of his jailer.

Legenda Aurea still providing no connections whatsoever with sentimental love, appropriate lore has been embroidered in modern times to portray Valentine as a priest who refused an unattested law attributed to Roman Emperor Claudius II, allegedly ordering that young men remain single. The Emperor supposedly did this to grow his army, believing that married men did not make for good soldiers. The priest Valentine, however, secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young men. When Claudius found out about this, he had Valentine arrested and thrown in jail. In an embellishment to The Golden Legend, on the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he wrote the first "valentine" himself, addressed to a young girl variously identified as his beloved, as the jailer's daughter whom he had befriended and healed, or both. It was a note that read ˜From your Valentine".

In another apparently modern embellishment, while Valentine was imprisoned, people would leave him little notes, folded up and hidden in cracks in the rocks around his cell. He would find them and offer prayers for them.

To me, Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate love in all of its forms. Many people see it as a day to celebrate romance, but to me, that's only part of it. There was never a point of getting bitter because there wasn't a man in my life. It was a day to party with the girls. I celebrated no matter what my relationship status. When I was single, I took the day to celebrate the friendships I had and the love of my family. I still let my friends and family know how much they mean to me on this day. I also do celebrate the love I have with my husband. To us, this day is even more special, because when we started dating, it was on Valentine's weekend. This way we can look back at our beginnings. We went out on our first date on the 12th with friends for a movie and dessert. Afterward, we all took a moonlit walk on the beach. Our second date on the 13th was going ice-skating, where he was still falling for me, even though I kept falling all over the ice. On Valentine's Day, we had a quiet dinner together. Valentine's Day will always be a celebration of family, friends and my husband. This day celebrates all different kinds of love.

--research from wikipedia.org