You may know Valentine’s Day as a day of love and chocolates, but what about the origin of this love filled day?
As the story goes, it is said that there was once a Roman emperor by the name of Claudius II that believed his soldiers should not be married because single men made better soldiers. So, in order to make his army the best in the world, he outlawed marriage for Roman young men. One bishop by the name of Valentine (who has been commemorated as Saint Valentine), saw this as an unjust law of action by the emperor. In response, he defied the orders of Claudius II and performed illegal marriages for young lovers in secret. But as secrets don’t stay secrets forever, Valentine was caught and ordered to be put to death on February 14, marking the day of Valentine’s Day.
According to the legend, the tradition of Valentine’s Day cards came from Valentine himself from his time imprisoned leading up to his execution. During his time in confinement the jailor’s daughter would come down to Valentine to feed him or help him in any way she was capable of. In the time span that they would get to familiarize themselves with each other, they would actually fall in love with one another. Before the time of his execution, he had written her a letter that he signed “From your Valentine” , which is the common expression still used today. The story of Valentine is used to symbolize the romantic and empathetic structure of Valentine’s Day as we know it today.
The tradition of sending each other letters of affection dates back all the way to the middle ages but was then modernized by the 18th century. Nowadays, Valentine’s Day is the second largest card sending holiday of the year only behind Christmas. So now when you send your loved ones a warm filled note of affection, you now know that it was the romantic idea of a bishop named Valentine.
