The History Of Saint Valentine
While love has a lot of different meanings in many different languages, thanks to Saint Valentine, there is a universal traditional day when people are sure to express how they really feel about one another.
This day was named after Saint Valentine and has come to be known as Valentine's Day. On this day, people exchange gifts and messages that share their feelings for each other. This takes place throughout all cultures.
Valentine's Day actually originated as a feast day that took place in the Catholic Church during the medieval era. The fact that it now falls on February 14th of each year stems from ancient Greece.
At that time, the Athens calendar included a period between mid January and mid February that was called the Gamelion. This was a month that was dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera. For this reason, this date was associated with love and fertility.
Who Is Saint Valentine?
While there is a lot of information as to the traditions of Valentine's Day, there is not a lot of written information about how Saint Valentine became the protector of romantic love. In fact, the Catholic church has made reference to three different persons by the name of Saint Valentine and the date February 14th.
These were a priest living in Rome, a bishop of Interamna, and a martyr in the Roman province of Africa. The various references only serve to make the origins of this celebration all that much more obscure.
Nevertheless, in the 5th century the feast of Saint Valentine was officially decreed to be on February 14th . This was done by Pope Gelasius I during the year of 496 A.D. This is the only history that has actually been written down about Valentine's Day; otherwise, everything else is just a legend.
Nobody is quite certain just how the gift of giving flowers and other romantic items came into play, but throughout time, these gifts have become a very important part of the celebration. While some people give their partner the gift of roses on Valentine's Day, others give daisy flowers to the one they love.
These flowers have a meaning of both innocence and loyal love. They are also associated with a person's fifth wedding anniversary for this very reason. There are also many other different types of flowers that you can send to a loved one on this day. |
