Love is in the air and with the call of cuckoo; it’s the search of valentine gift for your valentines that is making all the noise amidst the fragrance of valentine flowers. With the dark clouds of recession, economic slowdown, job loss and what not, you can still feel the magic of Valentine day if you have a heart that pulsates, a mind that searches and a soul that is stirred with the murmur of the leaves and rippling of the brook.
Check out my week long blog posts dedicated to all Valentines worldwide from scouting for valentine gifts, sending valentine wishes in a unique way to how to win your valentines heart with the best valentine ideas.
Before that, did you know when Valentine’s Day got commercialized or what is the story behind sending the Archie’s or Hallmark Valentine card and with the post offices making the right business during this month of romantic February?
Mystery shrouds like a mist as we explore the history of Valentines Day. Besides fanciful legends, Valentines Day is associated with Roman tradition and Christian vestiges. All that most of us know is that this day of 14th February is associated with some St. Valentine.
One story is that King Claudius II of Rome was a stone-hearted man who believed that men without any family bonding made better soldiers. Hence he denounced and outlawed marriages in his empire. The Saint Valentine, priest, there realized the injustice of the decree and he secretly continued to perform marriages of young lovers. However, when he was caught doing this act, St. Valentine suffered martyrdom on 14th February about the year 270 AD.
Some legend says that when Claudius II caught St Valentine performing the rites of marriage secretly, he was thrown into jail and was pronounced death sentence. But there, he left a farewell note for the prison guard’s daughter who had become his friend and signed it as From your Valentine.
In no time St. Valentine’s popularity grew from a heroic figure to a romantic icon and by the Middle Ages he was the most popular saint in France and England.
Again Christian legends revolve around the feast of Lupercalia, a fertility festival dedicated to Roman God of agriculture Faunus. On the eve of this festival name of Roman girls were written and placed in a jar. Each young man would draw the names of girls from the jar and would remain as partners during the festival. In many occasions the pairing lasted an eternal bondage.
Gradually 14th February marked the day of exchanging love notes and literary creativity with poems and valentine gifts rose to greater height. It was in 1800s that introduction of commercial valentine began. Since then and till now behind the veil of St. Valentine there is Valentine cards, Valentine gifts, Valentine ideas, Valentine flowers to Valentine sayings…. All with a Cupid’s heart !!!
Check out more : http://topics-today.blogspot.com/2009/02/say-it-with-valentine-roses-on.html
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