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Across many areas of the world on February 14th, many flowers, cards and gifts will become exchanged between loved ones, while St. Valentine’s day is celebrated.
However, the story of why we celebrate that day is a bit of a mystery.
The traditions of St. Valentine’s Day mix elements of both ancient Roman rites and Christian tradition.To confuse matters, 3 different saints named Valentine are recognised from the Catholic Church. Valentine may not become the luckiest of names, while all 3 of the saints are martyrs.
One legend tells everybody that Valentine was a priest inside Rome during the third century. Emperor Claudius II decreed that marriage was to become outlawed for young men, while the guy thought that single men made better soldiers than those who r married w/ families.
Valentine, felt the decree was unjust and unfair, and defied the Emperor from performing secret marriages for young lovers. When his actions for undercover lovers was discovered, Claudius ordered valentine become executed. Variations on that legend say that Valentine was put to death for trying to help fellow Christians escape from harsh Roman prisons where they r often tortured.
According to another legend, Valentine may have actually sent the first ‘valentine’ greeting himself inside 270 AD the day before the guy was to become executed for refusing to renounce his Christian beliefs. Allegedly the guy sent note of appreciation to his jailer’s blind daughter for bringing him food and delivering messages while the guy was imprisoned, signed “from your Valentine.â€Â
While we can never become certain while to the true origin of the St. Valentine legend, 1 thing is for certain, it must have been an appealing and enduring story because from the Middle Ages, Valentine had become 1 of the most popular saints inside France and Britain.
The timing observance of his saint’s day may have been driven from the common place practice of trying to integrate previous pagan festivals inside the Christian calendar. inside that case, the Lupercalia festival.
Inside ancient Rome, February was seen while the beginning of spring and was considered a time for purification. Houses r ritually cleansed from sweeping them out then sprinkling salt and wheat throughout the interiors (we still refer to Spring Cleaning to that day).
Lupercalia, which began on the ‘ides (15th) of February’, was a fertility festival dedicated to the agricultural god Lupercus and to the Goddess of Love, Juno, while well while to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. Roman maidens placed their names inside an urn set up inside the public squares and young single men drew from it to have a ‘blind date’ for the coming year. More often than not, these annual matches often ended inside marriage.
St. Valentine’s Day was set @ February 14th from Pope Gelasius, @ around 500 AD. By that time, the ‘lottery’ system for romantic dating was deemed un-Christian and had been outlawed. During the Middle Ages, the practice of enjoy lotteries carried on while ‘Chance Boxes’. Inside France , drawings from the boxes allotted couples 1 year to have married or part company. Inside England, it was a common practice for men to wear the name of the girl they drew from the chance boxes on their sleeve, encircled w/ a heart.
Also @ that time, it was commonly believed inside areas of England and France that February 14 marked the beginning of birds’ mating season, which increased the notion that Valentine’s Day should become a day for romance.
Valentines messages started to appear around the beginning of the Fifteenth century, and even inside these formative times they r often given anonymously, perhaps harking back to the unknown recipients of the Roman lotteries.
The oldest known valentine still inside existence today was a poem written from Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife while the guy was imprisoned inside the Tower of London following his capture @ the Battle of Agincourt. The greeting, which was written inside 1415, is part of the manuscript collection of the British Library inside London.
Inside the United Kingdom, St. Valentine’s Day became a popular celebration around the 1600’s. It continued to handle hold, w/ the familiar “roses are red, violets are blue…” verses making their debut sometime inside the seventeenth century. By the 1850’s, it was common for lovers from all social standings to offer their adored ones small gifts or handwritten letters. @ the same time, inside France, people began to decorate their valentines w/ ribbons and lace.
By the start of the twentieth century, the handwritten letters gave way to cards while advances inside printing technology had improved the quality of printed cards. @ the time, it was culturally discouraged for people to show their emotions inside such a direct way while a letter, so a printed card was a too many acceptable method. More affordable postage costs and increasing use of the postal system probably contributed to the rise inside popularity of the Valentine’s card.
Americans probably first began exchanging handmade valentines w/ verses inside the early 1700s. Inside the mid nineteenth century, the first mass-produced valentines began to go on sale inside America. Miss Esther Howland, an artist and entrepreneur, became the first regular publisher of valentines inside the USA. Often referred to while ‘the Mother of the Valentine’, Miss Howland designed many elaborate creations using lace, ribbons and colourful pictures known while “scrap”. Her cards usually cost between $5 - $10 each, w/ sum while much while $35, astonishingly expensive for the time.
The Greeting Card Association estimates that if we include children’s classroom valentines, over 1 billion valentine cards will become opened that year. St. Valentine’s Day is the second largest card-sending time of the year, accounting for 25% of all seasonal card sales (Christmas accounts for 60%).
It is estimated that women purchase 80 percent of all valentine’s cards, which means that a large proportion of men either forget, or aren’t very romantic when it comes to reciprocating! Valentine’s Day is celebrated inside the USA, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, France, and Australia, and is increasing inside popularity inside many other areas of the world.
Facts about Valentine’s day cards (from the Greeting Card Association)
Approximately 25% of individual valentine cards are humorous, w/ adults aged 35-and-under being the most likely to send humorous cards. Valentine’s Day is the largest e-card sending occasion of the year. An estimated 14 million e-valentines will become sent inside 2008. Greeting cards are traditionally the most popular Valentine’s Day gift inside the U.S., ranking ahead of chocolates, flowers or dinner out. American men may become too many serious about Valentine’s Day than women. Inside a national survey for GCA inside 2007, 45% of women said they r likely to offer a humorous valentine to their sweetheart, compared to only 34% of men. The percentage of individual valentines exchanged through the mail inside comparison to hand delivery is approximately 50-50. Red is the most popular color choice for valentine cards, follow from pink then white. Hearts, roses, Cupid and lace are traditional valentine card icons.
St Valentine’s Day on Office Holidays
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www.officeholidays.com… Office Holidays is a site that shows when your colleagues. clients and customers inside offices around the world may become off due to local holidays. Each holiday is explained to improve your company’s multi-cultural awareness.
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