Home india valentine day world Valentine Day ! Why We Celebrate ?

Valentine Day ! Why We Celebrate ?

, ,

It's Valentine's Day! Why we celebrate love today, who was St Valentine - and everything else you need to know


St Valentine’s Day is here. It’s a day when people show their love and affection for another person – usually in the form of cards, flowers, gifts and messages.

Oysters, a legendary aphrodisiac, are the epitome of Valentine’s Day luxury.

Back in the nineteenth century they were the food of the poor, but these days with prices reaching £30 and more for a dozen, they’ve been out of reach of all but the most cash-rich Casanovas.

Now Morrisons has democratized the oyster, selling them for a positively Victorian 25p each, a tenth of the price they fetch in London’s historic Bentley’s Oyster Bar. But is it ok to buy an oyster from the supermarket? Find out in this piece.

Say it with chocolate: the best Valentine's Day gifts

If you are aiming to seduce a chocolate lover this Valentine’s Day you can’t get away with any old soft centres in a heart-shaped box. Quality and ethical sourcing are more likely to sway the sentiments than a pretty bow - and the best chocolate makers know it.

Here is a selection of romantic treats that not only taste delicious and look enchanting, but which have been made using the finest, properly sourced cocoa by makers whose hearts are in the right place.
Of equal importance, is making sure your gift doesn't have the reverse effect. 

The best romantic recipes

Valentine' Day recipes: heart-shaped pizza
A Valentine's Day meal needs to be both delicious and impressive. Here is a selection of the most romantic recipes for your Valentine - including this heart-shapped pizza.
James Martin has also come up with a delicious winter feast to get the cockles warming...

The best romantic drinks

Kay Plunkett-Hogge suggests a cocktail or three to get you in the Valentine's Day mood - or to get you through it, depending on your romantic state of mind...

Play some slushy songs

Spotify has compiled the top 20 songs which appear in UK playlists by 'Valentine's' in the title.

How are you celebrating? Here are messages from some famous faces...

Not everyone is convinced...

Tom Fordy thinks we should dump this saccharine, sickly and sexist tradition.
"Valentine’s Day, a saccharine, sickly, rose-tinted window into the past, where the roles society once forced upon us are still very much in place.
"Women are cast as passive and gooey-eyed, easily impressed by empty romantic gestures – girly pink tat, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, bouquets of flowers so garish that even Derek Trotter would be embarrassed buying them."

Still looking for love? We evaluate the best online dating tools..


In 2016, dating has gone truly digital. Any stigma which may have surrounded searching for love online has been banished, and meeting for a mid-week Tinder date is no longer something people feel they have to lie about.

But given how much choice is out there, how can you separate the wheat from the chaff? We've tried and tested some of the biggest dating apps for ease of use, design and, crucially, the likelihood of setting up a date for Valentine's Day.

Who was St Valentine?

The details are sketchy. Some say St Valentine was a priest from Rome who lived in the third century AD.
Emperor Claudius II had banned marriages, believing married men made bad soldiers and St Valentine is thought to have arranged marriages in secret.
Saint Valentine baptizing Saint Lucilla by Jacopo Bassano
He was imprisoned and sentenced to death for his crimes.

St Valentine apparently fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and sent her a love letter signed ‘from your Valentine’ on February 14th, the day of his execution, as a goodbye.
The name 'Valentinus' is found in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, a book which was compiled between 460 and 544.

The feast of St Valentine of February 14th was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who included Valentine among all those "... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God."

Wearing a coronet made from flowers and with a stencilled inscription, St Valentine's skull now resides in the Chiesa di Santa Maria in Cosmedin, on Rome’s Piazza Bocca della Verità.

The ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia

Some people believe the roots of Valentine's Day stem from the ancient, possibly pre-Roman festival of Lupercalia, dedicated to the god Lupercus; a pastoral festival observed on February 13th through 15th.

Lupercalia subsumed Februa, an earlier-origin spring cleansing ritual held on the same date, which gives the month of February (Februarius) its name.

During the festival, young men would draw the name of a woman from a jar, and they would become a couple for the rest of the festival.

Men would strip naked and swat young maidens with dog- or goat-skin whips, to increase their fertility. Fertility of course is meaningless without sex, so as time passed, sex became Lupercalia's focus for the average Roman.

In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who would be their Valentine. They would wear the name of the person on their sleeves - hence the expression "to wear your heart on your sleeve".

Incidentally, the X symbol has come to mean a kiss because in medieval times most people couldn't write their names so they signed cards with an X and kissed it.

Over the years, February 14th became more popular and was romanticised by the likes of Chaucer and later Shakespeare.

In 1537, England's King Henry VII officially declared the day St Valentine's Day.
There is so much confusion around who St Valentine was that the Catholic Church stopped liturgical veneration of him in 1969, although his name remains on its list of officially recognised saints.

Why do some people leave Valentine's cards anonymous?

This trend was started by the Victorians, who thought it was bad luck to sign Valentine's cards with their names.
The Victorians also started the rose-giving trend.
They were the favourite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love, and have come to indicate passion and romance.
Nowadays, more than 50 million roses are given for Valentine's Day every year.
Every year, there will of course be some people who do not receive any cards, flowers or gifts on Valentine's Day.
One teenager solved that problem by buying 900 carnations and giving them to out to all the girls at his school.

What to write in a Valentine's card

What message will you be writing to your loved one this Valentine's Day?
If you're thinking of just putting "Happy Valentine's Day" and leaving it there - well, that's fine. Not all of us can be poets.
But if you wanted to go for something a bit more elaborate, why not take inspiration from some of the greatest love letters ever written?
Alternatively, if you're not a fan of the over-commercialised, Hallmark holiday that is Valentine's Day, here are some cards that prove romance is dead, after all.

What's Cupid got to do with it all?

Cupid in a Tree (1795/1805) by Jean-Jacques-François Le Barbier
Cupid is the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus and the war god Mars.

Cupid is also known in Latin also as Amor ("Love"). His Greek counterpart is Eros and he is just one of the ancient symbols associated with St Valentine’s Day, along with the shape of a heart, doves, and the colours red and pink.

He is usually portrayed as a small winged figure with a bow and arrow which he uses to strike the hearts of people.

People who fall in love are said to be ‘struck by Cupid’s arrow’.

When did Valentine's Day become so commercial?

It was during the middle of the 18th century that Valentine's started to take off in England, with lovers sending sweets and cards adorned with flowers, ribbons and images of cupids and birds.
Eventually huge numbers of printed cards replaced hand-written ones. In 1913, Hallmark Cards of Kansas City began mass producing Valentine's cards.
Now about a billion Valentine's Day cards are exchanged every year and it's the second largest seasonal card sending time of the year.

What's the most romantically commercial place in Britain?

An analysis of Valentine's Day gift-buying by the payments processor found that lovers in Preston will spend more than anyone else in the UK and 18pc more than the national average of £45.
Meanwhile, Amazon has revealed which UK cities buy the most of certain types of Valentine's presents - from red roses to black satin sheets. Can you match the Valentine's gift to the UK city?

How is Valentine's Day celebrated around the world?

In parts of Europe lovers give each other St Valentine’s keys as romantic gestures and an invitation to unlock the giver’s heart.

In Finland, Valentine's Day is called Ystävänpäivä, which means Friend's Day and focuses on remembering friends.

However, in Mexico, February 14th is a day of national mourning.
But it seems not everyone loves Valentine's Day. Members of India's right-wing Bharatiya Janatha Party blow up heart-shaped balloons during a protest to denounce Valentine's Day in Hyderabad. The BJP and right-wing Hindu groups strongly oppose Valentine's day celebrations, citing them as cultural invasion on the Hindu way of life.
In countries like Pakistan, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia celebrating the day can result in severe punishment and is seen by conservative Muslims as un-Islamic.

Japanese Valentine’s Day is about all about the men. Women give chocolates to them, and hope favour is returned later in the year.

In South Korea, February 14th is one of 12 ‘love’ days that fall on the 14th of each month. Women give men presents and they reciprocate on 'White Day' a month later.
If the gift isn’t returned, singles celebrate White Day by eating jajangmyeon, a dish made from white noodles and black bean sauce.

In Brazil, Valentine's day isn't celebrated in February because it usually falls on or around Brazil Carnival. Instead, Brazil celebrates 'Dia dos Namorados' on June 12.

Brazil's celebration honours Saint Anthony - the patron saint of matchmaking and marriages.
Valentine's Day coincides with Chinese New Year this year.

On this day in...

Today's animated Google Doodle celebrates Valentine's Day and expressions of love in various forms.



Previous Google Doodles on this day have celebrated other events and anniversaries that have happened on February 14.

On this day in 2002, Alpine skiing events were held at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The Games featured competition in five Alpine disciplines - downhill, combined (one downhill and two slalom runs), super-G, giant slalom and slalom.

Janica Kostelic become the first Alpine skier ever to win four medals at a single Olympic Winter Games, thanks to her victory in the women's giant slalom event.

In 2006, the ice dancing events were held at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Gold medals went to Yevgeny Pleshenko of Russia and Shizuka Arakawa of Japan in the Figure Skating Single events. In the pairs figure skating, Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin of Russia picked up gold, while Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov, also of Russia, won in the Ice Dancing Pairs.

In 2010, Valentine's Day coincided with the start of the Lunar New Year of the Tiger. The next time the zodiac falls on the tiger will be in 2022.

In 2013, the Doodle marked both Valentine's Day and the 154th birthday of American engineer George Ferris, the creator of the Ferris Wheel, who was both on Valentine's Day in 1859.
In 1891, the directors of the World's Columbian Exposition issued a challenge to engineers to come up with a monument for the fair that would be greater than the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.
Mr Ferris came up with the idea of a wheel from which visitors would be able to view the entire exhbition.

In 2015, February 14 marked the start of the Cricket World Cup, hosted jointly by Australia and New Zealand. The final, held on 29 March 2015, was played between the two host nations. Australia went into the game as favourites and won by seven wickets for a fifth World Cup victory.


London's top 10 Valentine's day dates

Whether you're hopelessly amorous or only reluctantly romantic, London simmers with all manner of dating opportunities. Here Telegraph staff provide their recommendations for the London dating venues and experiences most conducive to romance.

Need to book a last-minute Valentine's break?

Galasenjak island off the coast of Croatia. The tiny heart-shaped island in the Adriatic has become a holiday hit for St Valentine's Day after being discovered on Google Earth.

The fear beneath the surface


Valentines Day and I'm hunched in a doorway, face to jowl with my elderly cat  as the house sways from side-to-side like an insignificant dinghy on rough seas.

 The cat burps in my face and lies down, curling herself into a ball as the house shudders uncontrollably around us. Her indifference to danger is somehow comforting.

 For some reason this big 5.7 magnitude earthquake isn't a surprise. Perhaps it's because we are so close to the 5th anniversary of the February 22, 2011 earthquake, that I feel like I've been holding my breath, waiting for another one to happen.

 Often there's a fear beneath the surface of every morning. Will it happen today?
It subsided for a while. Gradually I stopped scrutinising the earthquake drums on the Geonet website, I walked through an underground car park, heart hammering. Wherever I go I still plan where I'd take cover should 'it' happen.

Some of these imagined scenarios would require me to do manoeuvres my middle aged girth is totally incapable of in a Briscoes aisle but having some sort of plan helps make me feel better. For the same reason my phone is always charged.

 Are you ok? #eqnz That's what we message each other on Facebook after every quake. 
Maybe it's just me but whenever there's a quake, I'm jolted with five years of memories and moments. Shadows of people and their quake experiences overlap one another.

 For a long time I've tried to be OK. But I'm not strong, I'm not resilient. I'm anxious, scared, financially drained and exhausted from putting on a brave face. I'm sick of thinking about it and worrying about it. But, somewhat perversely, I worry that if I don't worry about it somehow I'm tempting fate.

 I'm still anxious about everything from multi-level buildings to shops with high aisles full of dinnerware. (Watch me walk rapidly past the Jamie Oliver range, inhaling like an asthmatic).
Sometimes I like to picture the earthquakes as a Vaudevillian-style villain, twirling its moustache, snapping its cape and breaking in to our lives to tip our lives up onto the floor. Alone I greet the villain in the door frame and say "aha, you have returned my old foe". Humour helps.

 Five years ago on this day I interviewed a woman from Samoa about her experiences in the tsunami. She and her family had moved to Christchurch after their terrifying experiences only to find themselves living in a garage after the September 2010 quake.

 She had told me about finding a dead baby relative on a beach after the tsunami. We had cried together. Her hands shook as she told me about her post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

 Because of what happend a week later, I never got to tell her story yet I often think of her around the time of the anniversary of that day.I didn't know much about PTSD then. But that was a different city. We were all different then. I really hope she reads this and gets in touch.

 When she told me that she couldn't get her head around not being able to trust the very ground beneath her feet, and how it frightened her right down to her marrow, I thought I understood her but I didn't really get it then.

Now I stand in a doorway on Valentines Day, confronting the anxiety that rampages through my mind, upending everything, and I understand her words all too well.
Are we OK? I think so.

 Perhaps the Valentines Day quake serves as yet another reminder that broken stuff is just broken stuff and nothing really matters, but the people you love and the people and burping cats who love you.
Valentine Day ! Why We Celebrate ? Valentine Day ! Why We Celebrate ? Reviewed by Unknown on 02:07:00 Rating: 5

No comments:

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )
Powered by Blogger.