Valentine's Day (14/02)

On February 14, many countries around the world celebrate Valentine's Day or Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day is believed to have existed for more than 16 centuries, but the festivals of Love have been known since even earlier times — since ancient pagan cultures. For example, the Romans celebrated a festival of eroticism called Lupercalia in mid-February, in honor of the goddess of love Juno Februata.

The holiday also has a specific « culprit» — Christian priest Valentin. This story dates back to around 269, at that time the Roman Empire was ruled by Emperor Claudius II. The warring Roman army was acutely short of soldiers for military campaigns, and the military leader was convinced that the main enemy of his «Napoleonic» plans was — marriages, because a married legionnaire thinks much less about the glory of the empire than about how to feed his family. And in order to preserve the military spirit in his soldiers, the emperor issued a decree prohibiting legionnaires from marrying.

But this did not make the soldiers fall in love any less. And fortunately for them, a man was found who, without fear of imperial wrath, began to secretly marry the legionnaires with their lovers. He was a priest named Valentin from the Roman city of Terni. Apparently, he was a real romantic, since his favorite pastimes were to reconcile those who quarreled, help write love letters and give flowers to the objects of their passion at the request of the legionnaires.

Of course, as soon as the emperor found out about this, he decided to stop his «criminal activities». Valentin was sentenced to death. The tragedy of the situation was also that Valentin himself was in love with the jailer’s daughter. The day before the execution, the priest wrote a farewell letter to the girl, where he spoke about his love, and signed it «Your Valentin». It was read after he was executed.

Subsequently, as a Christian martyr who suffered for his faith, Valentine was canonized by the Catholic Church. And in 496, Pope Gelasius I declared February 14 Valentine's Day.

They also like to have weddings and get married on this holiday (Photo: S.Dashkevych, licensed from Shutterstock.com)

Since 1969, as a result of the reform of worship, Saint Valentine was removed from the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church (along with other Roman saints, information about whose lives is contradictory and unreliable). However, even until 1969, the church did not approve or support the traditions of celebrating this day.

Whether this was so or otherwise, apparently, it was from there that love notes — «valentines» were written on Valentine's Day. They also like to have weddings and get married on this holiday. It is believed that this will be the key to eternal love.

In Western Europe, Valentine's Day began to be widely celebrated from the 13th century, in the USA — from 1777.

The tradition of giving gifts on this day grew stronger every year and for some has become a fairly successful business. For example, at the beginning of the last century, it was customary for Americans to send marzipans to their brides, which were quite expensive.

In Japan, the tradition of giving sweets on this day appeared at the instigation of a large chocolate production company. They started celebrating Valentine's Day in the 30s, and chocolate remains the most common gift to this day. By the way, Valentine's Day there is slightly reminiscent of March «8 for men», since Japanese men receive, perhaps, even more gifts than women: men's accessories such as a razor, lotion, wallet, and so on.

On Valentine's Day, it is customary to give each other gifts and «valentines» (Photo: Ulyana Vyugina, licensed by Shutterstock.com)

It is customary for passionate French people to give jewelry on Valentine's Day, and in romantic Denmark people send each other dried white flowers.

In Britain, unmarried girls get up on February 14 before sunrise, stand near a window and look at passing men. According to legend, the first man they see is a betrothed.

But there are some countries in the world that have especially distinguished themselves in celebrating Valentine's Day. First of all, this is Saudi Arabia, which is the only country in the world where this holiday... is officially prohibited, and under pain of large fines.

Rus' had its own lovers' holiday, but it was celebrated not in winter, but in summer, and was associated with the legendary love story of Peter and Fevronia. Today in Russia on this day the official holiday All-Russian Day of Family, Love and Fidelity is celebrated.



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