Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you! Valentine’s Day occurs every February 14. For centuries it’s been a day to celebrate love and romance. It often is celebrated all over the world by giving gifts, love, and candy. 

But where did Valentine’s Day even come from?  

Valentine’s Day was first celebrated in the fourteenth century when it was recorded that there was a feast in celebration of Saint Valentine on February 14. There are stories and legends that Valentine was a Roman priest in the third century. The emperor at the time, Emperor Claudius ll, wanted all single men to be soldiers and remain unmarried so he decided to make it illegal for a man to marry before a certain age. But Valentine, knowing this was unfair to young lovers, decided to continue marrying young couples in secret. The emperor found out about this and put him to death.

Many sources say that this was the year of his tragic death is unknown although a History Channel, This Day In History article about St. Valentine reports “On February 14, around the year A.D. 270, Valentine, a holy priest in Rome in the days of Emperor Claudius II, is said to have been executed.”

 It was not until the fifth century that Pope Gelasius 1 officially declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day in memory of the late St. Valentine. Although the holiday was not originally meant to be celebrated as a romantic holiday, it was not much later that people started to associate the day with love and romance. 

While that does clear up the origins of Valentine’s day, there are still other smaller traditions that came later on, such as cupid. When did we decide we needed a flying kid shooting people with arrows to fall in love? We mostly see Cupid around Valentine’s Day on cards or boxes with candy inside. He is commonly shown to be a baby or small child typically with wings and a bow and arrow. The character Cupid is a Roman god with roots from the Greek god Eros, the god of love. Ancient Greek poets say Eros was known to meddle with the emotions of humans and gods. He used golden arrows to force people to fall in love. It was not until around 323 B.C Cupid became the adorable, cubby, trouble-making child we now know today. Other Traditions that we have picked up were gifting chocolate or flowers and cards. By the middle of the 18 century, it became a tradition to give friends and loved ones gifts and affection on Valentines day. It was very common to make handwritten notes and once the 1900’s came around it was also popular to buy printed cards.

Did you know that different countries have different traditions for Valentine’s Day? Some countries even have their own versions of Valentine’s Day on different days of the year. For example, South Korea celebrates something called “The 12 days of love.” It occurs on the 14th every month. For example May 14 is “the day of roses,” June 14 is “the day of kisses,” and December 14 is “the day of hugs.” Every month the day of love changes its theme so that you can celebrate all the sweetest ways to love someone. Although, if you’re single you would not celebrate the day of love. You would instead celebrate “the black day” which is a day in April that single people eat black bean noodles. The day of love celebrations are nothing like the rest of the world’s celebrations, making it very unique and that much sweeter. You can read more about the beautiful holiday in Sartori’s article about The 12 Days of Love.

 Valentine’s Day is very special to the Philippines because on this day the government holds an event where unmarried couples can get married all at one time. It’s called a mass wedding because the wedding day, space, and venue are shared with hundreds of other couples. Along with there being so many other people, the entire thing is free. Our Today News’ Tamoy Ashman in article about mass weddings says “Love-struck couples will receive gold-plated rings, a bouquet of flowers and corsages, wedding gifts, a food banquet for the couple and eight of their family members or friends, a wedding cake, and cash pinned to their wedding outfits while they are dancing, a tradition for Filipino weddings.”Filipinos believe that love is not based on how big, grand, and beautiful the wedding is, but how committed and sincere you are to your partner.

Have a happy Valentine’s Day Spartans!