History of Valentines Day

Valentines Day is celebrated in honour of St. Valentine. One of the legends have it that Valentine was a priest who served during third century Rome. The emperor at the time was Emperor Claudius II, he decided that single men made better soldiers than those that were married. With this thought in mind he outlawed marriage for young men in hopes of building a stronger military base. Supposedly, Valentine, decided this decree just wasn't fair and chose to marry young couples secretly. When Emperor Claudius II found out about Valentine's actions he had him put to death.

Another legend has it that Valentine was an imprisoned man who fell in love with his jailor's daughter. Before he was put to death he sent the first 'valentine' himself when he wrote her a letter and signed it 'Your Valentine', words still used on cards today. Valentines Day is celebrated on February 14th as according to this particular legend, St. Valentine was executed on this day. Today people all over the world send similar love notes and/or roses to their partners as gestures of their affections. Traditionally in Britain, women pinned four bay leaves to the corners of their pillow and ate salted egg whites. This would then help them to dream of their husbands. Women would also write their lover's names on pieces of paper and put it in clay balls which they would drop into the water. They believed that whichever paper came up first, that man would be their future husband.

Another important figure at Valentines is Cupid (and those arrows we hope he strikes at the heart of those we love). The Latin for this is Cupido which when translated means ‘desire’. In Roman mythology Cupid is the son of Venus, goddess of love. His counterpart in Greek mythology is Eros, the god of love