What is Valentine's Day ?
82987
Saint Valentine is supposed to be some sort of martyr, but it is actually a holiday kept alive by the greeting card, candy and flower industries.  Total 2006 Valentine's day retail is expected to exceed 13 and a half BILLION dollars.
909005
Yes.\n\nHolidays are days to celebrate special things and/or people.  But a valentine need not be a significant other.  It can be a child, a close friend or a family member who needs a smile. \n\nBeing single myself - I try to make it a special day for those that I care about - I will do something special with my son or for my elderly grandfather or my close friends, etc...  I don't let the day go to waste just because I don't have a significant other to dote upon.
74548
Well, since Valentines Day is over, maybe you can celebrate St. Patrick's Day!\n\nGo to a dinner show, or a dinner dance, or a local hang out that offers 2-for-1 specials.\n\nWe have a local restaurant that has steak and lobster for 2 with a special dessert that you share.  It is a lot of fun, and they have cozy seats so you can snuggle.
146365
Valentine's day is the one time of year that everyone can be openly affectionate.\nPeople who have absolutely no significant other can get quite depressed when a day comes around that's solely revolved around love and affection.\nNatural reaction.
595557
Chocolate day.\nThe day we celebrate the gooey, glorious goodness that is chocolate.\n\nAnd we get the day off of work to eat it.
109931
well..here it is..\n\nEveryone thinks they know the origin of Valentine's Day. According to the most commonly accepted story, Emperor Claudius of Rome issued a decree forbidding marriage in the year 271. Roman generals had found that married men did not make very good soldiers, because they wanted to return as quickly as possible to their wives and children-and they didn't want to leave them to fight the emperor's battles in the first place. So Claudius issued his edict that there should be no more marriages, and all single men should report for duty.\n \nA priest named Valentine deemed such a decree an abomination, and he secretly continued to marry young lovers. When Claudius learned of this extreme act of disobedience to his imperial command, he ordered the priest dragged off to prison and had him executed on February 14.\n \nFather Valentine, the friend of sweethearts, became a martyr to love and the sanctity of marriage, and when the Church gained power in the Roman Empire, the Holy See was quick to make him a saint.\n \nThe early Church fathers were well aware of the popularity of a vast number of heathen gods and goddesses, as well as the dates of observation of pagan festivals, so they set about replacing as many of the entities and the holidays as possible with ecclesiastical saints and feast days. Mid-February had an ancient history of being devoted to acts of love of a far more passionate and lusty nature than the Church wished to bless, and the bishops moved as speedily as possible to claim the days of February 14 through 17 as belonging to Saint Valentine, the courageous martyr to the ties that bound couples in Christian love.
69825
This site has some Valentines Day items you can print out.\n\nhttp://valentine.momsbreak.com/
170553
Valentine's Day is a celebration of love associated with St. valentine.  It a holiday now trivialized by cards, chocolates, and gifts.  The original message is still carried over as union of two people.  As for your personal views, the commecilization of the holiday puts soo much emphasis on being with someone.  No you shouldn't change your attitude to mix in with the common view some people share.
87497
Something little to let him/ her know that you love him/ her. \n\nBe creative! Valentine's day is not like Christmas where you have to give actual presents, it's about showing your love for your significant other.\n\nHere are some ideas:\n\n- Visit a local art museum alone, learn about the works with romantic themes, and bring your wife/ girlfriend/ boyfriend/ husband back for a personal tour.\n\n- Go for a mystery ride to an unannounced destination. Keep your husband/ wife/ girlfriend/ boyfriend guessing until you arrive at a favorite beach, ice cream palour, restaurant, theater, sport game, coffee shop, or ice skating/ roller skating rink, etc.\n\n- Fill his/ her whole bedroom closet, garage, coat closet, car, drawer, bathroom cabinet, linen closet, etc. with balloons.\n\n- Woman:  Dress up & act ladylike.  Be polite & appreciate what the man is doing for you.  \n\n- Men:  Act like a real gentleman.  Open the door for her.  Help her with her coat.  Open her car door for her.  Dress nice.  Be on your best behavior.  Smile at her while looking in her eyes.  Tell her how special she is to you & why.\n\nDon't spend a lot of money. Hope this helps you. Have fun!
96147
for heaven's sake...!!! valentine's day nowadays it's celebrated by couples...but it's not adressed only to them... u can celebrate this day with your best friend it'll be great also..so enjoy it ...
888251
The Origins of St. Valentine's Day\n\nA quick quiz: St. Valentine was:\n\na)  a priest in the Roman Empire who helped persecuted Christians during the reign of Claudius II, was thrown in jail and later beheaded on Feb. 14.\n\nb)  a Catholic bishop of Terni who was beheaded, also during the reign of Claudius II.\n\nc)  someone who secretly married couples when marriage was forbidden, or suffered in Africa, or wrote letters to his jailer's daughter, and was probably beheaded.\n\nd)  all, some, or possibly none of the above.\n\nIf you guessed d), give yourself a box of chocolates. Although the mid-February holiday celebrating love and lovers remains wildly popular, the confusion over its origins led the Catholic Church, in 1969, to drop St. Valentine's Day from the Roman calendar of official, worldwide Catholic feasts. (Those highly sought-after days are reserved for saints with more clear historical record. After all, the saints are real individuals for us to imitate.) Some parishes, however, observe the feast of St. Valentine.\n\nThe roots of St. Valentine's Day lie in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, which was celebrated on Feb. 15. For 800 years the Romans had dedicated this day to the god Lupercus. On Lupercalia, a young man would draw the name of a young woman in a lottery and would then keep the woman as a sexual companion for the year.\n\nPope Gelasius I was, understandably, less than thrilled with this custom. So he changed the lottery to have both young men and women draw the names of saints whom they would then emulate for the year (a change that no doubt disappointed a few young men). Instead of Lupercus, the patron of the feast became Valentine. For Roman men, the day continued to be an occasion to seek the affections of women, and it became a tradition to give out handwritten messages of admiration that included Valentine's name.\n\nThere was also a conventional belief in Europe during the Middle Ages that birds chose their partners in the middle of February. Thus the day was dedicated to love, and people observed it by writing love letters and sending small gifts to their beloved. Legend has it that Charles, duke of Orleans, sent the first real Valentine card to his wife in 1415, when he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. (He, however, was not beheaded, and died a half-century later of old age
41020
I believe that the significance of Valentine's Day is to share it with someone you love. I have honestly never hated Valentine's Day just because I didn't have someone to share it with! I always shared it with my family and friends until I got me a significant other.
88679
Yeah, Valentine's about all kinds of love. You can give a present to anyone.
35658
Roman Roots\nThe history of Valentine's Day is obscure, and further clouded by various fanciful legends. The holiday's roots are in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration commemorated annually on February 15. Pope Gelasius I recast this pagan festival as a Christian feast day circa 496, declaring February 14 to be St. Valentine's Day.\n\nValentines Galore\nWhich St. Valentine this early pope intended to honor remains a mystery: according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there were at least three early Christian saints by that name. One was a priest in Rome, another a bishop in Terni, and of a third St. Valentine almost nothing is known except that he met his end in Africa. Rather astonishingly, all three Valentines were said to have been martyred on Feb. 14.\n\nMost scholars believe that the St. Valentine of the holiday was a priest who attracted the disfavor of Roman emperor Claudius II around 270. At this stage, the factual ends and the mythic begins. According to one legend, Claudius II had prohibited marriage for young men, claiming that bachelors made better soldiers. Valentine continued to secretly perform marriage ceremonies but was eventually apprehended by the Romans and put to death. Another legend has it that Valentine, imprisoned by Claudius, fell in love with the daughter of his jailer. Before he was executed, he allegedly sent her a letter signed "from your Valentine." Probably the most plausible story surrounding St. Valentine is one not focused on Eros (passionate love) but on agape (Christian love): he was martyred for refusing to renounce his religion.\n\nIn 1969, the Catholic Church revised its liturgical calendar, removing the feast days of saints whose historical origins were questionable. St. Valentine was one of the casualties.\n\nChaucer's Love Birds\nIt was not until the 14th century that this Christian feast day became definitively associated with love. According to UCLA medieval scholar Henry Ansgar Kelly, author of Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine, it was Chaucer who first linked St. Valentine's Day with romance.\n\nIn 1381, Chaucer composed a poem in honor of the engagement between England's Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. As was the poetic tradition, Chaucer associated the occasion with a feast day. In "The Parliament of Fowls," the royal engagement, the mating season of birds, and St. Valentine's Day are linked:\n\nFor this was on St. Valentine's Day, \nWhen every fowl cometh there to choose his mate.\n\nTradition of Valentine's Cards\n Over the centuries, the holiday evolved, and by the 18th century, gift-giving and exchanging hand-made cards on Valentine's Day had become common in England. Hand-made valentine cards made of lace, ribbons, and featuring cupids and hearts eventually spread to the American colonies. The tradition of Valentine's cards did not become widespread in the United States, however, until the 1850s, when Esther A. Howland, a Mount Holyoke graduate and native of Worcester, Mass., began mass-producing them. Today, of course, the holiday has become a booming commercial success. According to the Greeting Card Association, 25% of all cards sent each year are valentines.
110857
doing something little to let him/ her know that you love him/ her. \n\nBe creative! Valentine's day is not like Christmas where you have to give actual presents, it's about showing your love for your significant other.\n\nHere are some ideas:\n\n- Visit a local art museum alone, learn about the works with romantic themes, and bring your wife/ girlfriend/ boyfriend/ husband back for a personal tour.\n\n- Go for a mystery ride to an unannounced destination. Keep your husband/ wife/ girlfriend/ boyfriend guessing until you arrive at a favorite beach, ice cream palour, restaurant, theater, sport game, coffee shop, or ice skating/ roller skating rink, etc.\n\n- Fill his/ her whole bedroom closet, garage, coat closet, car, drawer, bathroom cabinet, linen closet, etc. with balloons.\n\nDon't spend a lot of money. Hope this helps you. Have fun!
70065
I have to agree with honeybunches. I never had a valentine, so I would love to just have a girl, my girl with me on that specail day. Just being with someone you care about a lot on holiday and events is good enought.
78357
im not sure this will really help you much but i am married and i am really looking forward to valentines day this year. I am a chef and for the first time in 20 years i dont have to work that night.  I plan on taking my wife to a nice show and cooking a really elegant dinner for her and making the most pationate love ever to her.\n\nhopefully something nice like that will happen for you