Valentine’s Day is the day of love as we know. But have you ever wondered how exactly Valentine's Day became a thing? I will warn you, it's not a happy-go-lucky reason. There's a big difference between then and now.
So first, let's talk about where exactly it came from. Valentine’s day has been around since the 400s; it was originally celebrated in Rome and it was called “Lupercalia” to celebrate the beginning of spring. However, the “leader” of this was named Saint Valentine, who was a Catholic priest at the time. Many Romans were converting to Christianity, which resulted in Emperor Claudius II passing laws that very much restricted what Christians were allowed to do. But Valentine didn't think it was fair and decided to rebel against Emperor Claudius’ laws and decided to marry Christiansanyways. This resulted in Valentine being killed but the Christians honored what he did and declared February 14th to be St. Valentine’s Day.
Today’s Valentine's day involves love, gifts, candy, and kindness. It is celebrated in the United States, Mexico, Canada, The United Kingdom, France, and Australia. This holiday can be very heartwarming and cheery, yet studies show that Valentine’s day can put a lot of pressure on relationships. Because of the worry of gifts and buying things for one another, money also might be an issue and due to this, it can cause a lot of mental strain.
So if you think Valentine's day is all cheery and fun, it might be for you. But if we look back we find the dark secret behind it all. Behind the day of love. What do you think about the story? Do you think we celebrate St. Valentine’s death, or do you think we celebrate for what he did?