Valentine’s Day is a holiday celebrated in some countries on February 14. In the US, it is a day when couples express their love for each other by sending cards and giving gifts (often chocolates in heart-shaped boxes, jewelry, or romantic dinners). School children usually give each other Valentine’s cards and eat sweets in school.
Many people say that the tradition of Valentine’s Day comes from a day that originally honored a saint in the Catholic church, St. Valentine, who lived around the year 200. While some sources on Wikipedia say that there is no evidence for this, popular legend says that Saint Valentine was a priest who refused to follow a new law at that time that prohibited young men from marrying until after they had served in the army. The law supposedly was created because the emperor believed that married men were not good soldiers. St. Valentine, however, did not believe this and secretly performed marriage ceremonies for any young man and woman who were in love. When the emperor found about this, he put Valentine in jail and sentenced him to death. While he was in jail, Valentine met and fell in love with the jailer’s daughter. On the night before he was to be executed, it is said that Valentine wrote a note to the girl and signed it “From your Valentine.” This note was a symbol of his love and the inspiration for today’s Valentine’s that often say “Be my Valentine.”
That’s the legend. Nowadays, handwritten Valentine’s cards or notes are rarely used; commercially produced cards are used instead. In fact, the US Greeting Card Association reports that approximately 1 billion Valentine’s cards are sent around the world each year. The Association also mentions that over 95% of all Valentine’s cards in the US are purchased by women. Despite how many women buy cards for Valentine’s Day, men spend more than twice as much money on Valentine’s Day than women! Many adults celebrate Valentine’s Day by exchanging flowers and going out to a fancy dinner, and men often pick up the dinner billl as a way to show their affection.
Whoever you are and however you celebrate, the ELI hopes you have a Happy Valentine’s Day!