"If the Sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you,
When mountains crumble to the sea, there will still be you and me.
-Led Zeppelin
As the whole world celebrates Valentine's Day today and is on spree on spreading love, warmth, positivity, sincerity and even butterflies in your stomach;have we ever thought about the origin of this actual day?
St Valentine, a priest from Rome, was arrested after secretly marrying Christian Couples. As helping the Christians was considered a crime, St Valentines was imprisoned and was condemned to death by Emperor Claudius's II. While in the prison, St Valentine fell in love with Jailer's daughter, Julia, and sent her a love letter signed, "From your Valentine, on February 14th,269 AD, the day of his execution as a goodbye.
After St Valentine was buried, Julia, the daughter of his jailer, planted an almond tree with pink blossoms near his grave. The almond tree today is the symbol of lasting friendship and love.
St Valentine's skull is housed and adorned in flowers in Rome and is on display in Basillica of St Maria in Cosmedin.
The oldest surviving Valentine poem was written by a prison- entrapped pinning lover: Charles, Duke of Orleans. He wrote it for his wife in 1415 while being confined in the Tower of London after being captured in the Battle of Agincourt.
The feast of St Valentine of February 14 was established in 496 AD by Pope Gelasius and at present celebrated as Valentine's Day.
In the middle ages, superstition said that if you were single, you would end up marrying the first single person of opposite sex that you met on Valentine's Day.
Back in 1537, King Henry VIII declared by Royal Charter that Valentine's Day would be a public holiday.
In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names to see who would be their Valentine. They would wear this name pinned on to their sleeves for a week for everyone to see. This was the origin to the expression 'wearing your heart on your sleeves'.
The first Valentine's Day Candy Box was invented by Richard Cadbury in the late 1800s.
Now a heavily commercialised day laden with expectations, about 1 billion Valentine's card are exchanged each year making it the second largest seasonal card sending time of the year.
The most popular flower on Valentine's Day is a single red rose surrounded with baby's breath. The red rose was also flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of Love.
According to a study, 73 per cent of people who buy flowers on this day are men whilst only 23 per cent are women.
In Norfolk, England, Valentines Eve is celebrated by the mystical figure of Jack Valentine, knocking on back doors and leaving gifts for adults and kids alike. Jack Valentine is known as old father Valentine or Old Mother Valentine.
Every Valentine's day, the Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1000 letters addressed to Juliet.
So to everyone out there- single, coupled or complicated, as it's the day of love and while you are all invested on giving love, showing gratitude and appreciation to all those people who have touched your life with every possible way.
comment:
p_commentcount