Do anyone knows the story of valentine's day and why they call it like that?
96689
Hallmark need a holiday to sell cards
52434
It is believed to date back to when the Romans decided single men made better soldiers and forbade young men to marry.  Valentine arranged secret weddings and was thrown in jail to be executed.  While there he supposedly fell in love with a woman and wrote her a letter signed from your Valentine.  Yes it can be depressing for any of us single LOL
34037
Nothing, because valentines day is a lame assed holiday created to make money for the greeting card/chocolate industry and make people think they're entitled to be treated extra special.  If he wants to impress me he'd do something nice for me on a random day when society didn't tell him he HAD to.  ;)
922447
I know the story, or at least "a" story.  I found one in Germany where it was called a "brautbecher" or "bride's cup". \n\nThe story is that a fellow wanted to marry a girl, but the father was against it, and said that when the fellow could make a cup that could contain two different drinks at the same time, where two people could drink one without spilling any, he would allow the marriage. \n\nHere's a link to one I found. \n\nhttp://www.thomasdalecompany.com/s-10336.html
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.
152117
The association of the middle of February with love and fertility dates to ancient times. In the calendar of Ancient Athens, the period between mid January and mid February was the month of Gamelion, which was dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera.\n\nIn Ancient Rome, the day of February 15 was Lupercalia, the festival of Lupercus, the god of fertility, who was represented as half-naked and dressed in goat skins. As part of the purification ritual, the priests of Lupercus would sacrifice goats to the god, and after drinking wine, they would run through the streets of Rome holding pieces of the goat skin above their heads, touching anyone they met. Young women especially would come forth voluntarily for the occasion, in the belief that being so touched would render them fruitful and bring easy childbirth.\n\nAccording to the Catholic Encyclopedia (1908), at least three different Saints Valentine, all of them martyrs and all quite obscure, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under the date of February 14:\n\n    * a priest in Rome who suffered martyrdom in the second half of the 3rd century and was buried on the Via Flaminia.\n    * a bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) also suffered martyrdom in the second half of the 3rd century and was also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than the priest.\n    * a martyr in North Africa, about whom little else is known.\n\nThe connection between St. Valentine and romantic love is not mentioned in any early histories and is regarded by secular historians as purely a matter of legend (see below). The feast of St. Valentine was first declared to be on February 14 by Pope Gelasius I in 496. There is a widespread legend that he created the day to counter the practice held on Lupercalia of young men and women pairing off as lovers by drawing their names out of an urn, but this practice is not attested in any sources from that era.\n\nIn the 19th century, relics of St. Valentine were donated by Pope Gregory XVI to the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland, which has become a popular place of pilgrimage on February 14.\n\nIn 1969, as part of a larger effort to pare down the number of saint days of purely legendary origin, the Church removed St. Valentine's Day as an official holiday from its calendar.\n\nValentine\n\nThe influential Gnostic teacher Valentinius was a candidate for Bishop of Rome in 143. In his teachings, the marriage bed assumed a central place in his version of Christian love, an emphasis sharply in contrast with the asceticism of mainstream Christianity. Stephan A. Hoeller assesses Valentinius on the subject : "In addition to baptism, anointing, eucharist, the initiation of priests and the rites of the dying, the Valentinian Gnosis mentions prominently two great and mysterious sacraments called 'redemption' (apolytrosis) and 'bridal chamber' respectively." [1].\n\nMedieval era\nSwedish calendar showing St Valentine's Day 14 February 1712\nEnlarge\nSwedish calendar showing St Valentine's Day 14 February 1712\n\nThe first recorded association of St. Valentine's Day with romantic love was in the 14th century in England and France, where February 14 was traditionally the day on which birds paired off to mate. This belief is mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer's Parlement of Foules (1381). It was common during that era for lovers to exchange notes on this day and to call each other their "Valentines". A 14th century valentine is said to be in the collection of the British Library. It is probable that many of the legends about St. Valentine were invented during this period. Among the legends are ones that assert that:\n\n    * On the evening before St. Valentine was to be martyred for being a Christian, he passed a love note to his jailer's daughter which read, "From Your Valentine."\n    * During a ban on marriages of Roman soldiers by the Emperor Claudius II, St. Valen
150438
*sigh*\n\nOk call me a fuddy duddy. But I guess I just don't feel that love should be celebrated on this one day because we are supposed to. Love should be shown every day. I sooooooooo prefer someone doing something for me spontaneously on some odd day just cause they so want to, instead of because they feel obligated to. Soooo, I plan on ignoring the day........and surprising someone I truly care about when he least expects it. It's just so much more meaningful that way! *sorry for being a little poopy head when it comes to Valentine's day**
68583
If it were sexist it would be favoring one sex or another wouldn't it? I think when it comes to showing love, Valentine's Day was created for everyone to show love. It is not anymore geared to one sex than another. Now if you asked if the focus of the marketing of Valentine's Day sexist.......perhaps. Have you noticed the increase in jewelry commercials......flowers......intimate delicates?   Shouldn't we also buy tools, new tires, fishing tackle and cigars?   From what I understand V-day was created by the card companies using St. Valentine as the patron saint of the day. *shrugs*   My kids love it........as for me? I just like the little candy hearts that say "Be mine" on them.
121211
Veneareal disease I saw someone use this abbreviation to mean Valentines day and I was confused for a second because the question was "What should I give my bf for VD?" My first thought was that is so disgusting, then I thought about it for a second an realized what they meant.
34684
I think it would be more romantic to get married on a day that has personal significance to a couple, instead of a day that is more generally symbolic like V-Day. Plus, if you marry on a day that you both find super special (like the day you met or the first day you both kissed), you get an extra present! LOL. You miss out on a V-Day gift if your anniversary is the same day!!!
903154
Real stories or just stories?\n\nWell, anyway, I'll tell you a real story that I've heard some time ago. \nThere was this girl (let's call her Brianna, since I firgot her name) who was supposed to go on a date with a guy she fell in love with. But exactly on the day of the date, something comes upo and she can't meet the guy (Matt). So instead of canceling the date, she askes her twin sister, Marianne, to go in her place and pretend she's her. Marianne goes, meets Matt, pretends and everything goes smoothly. Some time after that, Brianna finds out that Matt had a twin brother and that twin brother was the one who met up with her twin sister that day, since Matt couldn't make it to the date either.\n\nLOL. So they gradually started dating as 2 couples and both couples married on he same day. By the way, B. told Matt that her left palm is ticklish and that's how she can recognize her. And the poor guy actually tried that on the day of the wedding, too.\n\nLol. I know it sounds odd, but it's true.
422202
I had a friend once who wrote a story book about him and a girl he was interested in and gave it to her on Valentine's Day to tell her how he felt...  Very cute idea, I think, but only in the right situation.  Otherwise it might be creepy.
91174
The association of the middle of February with love and fertility dates to ancient times. In the calendar of Ancient Athens, the period between mid January and mid February was the month of Gamelion, which was dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera.\n\nIn Ancient Rome, the day of February 15 was Lupercalia, the festival of Lupercus, the god of fertility, who was represented by two half-naked young men, dressed in goat skins. As part of the purification ritual, the priests of Lupercus would sacrifice goats to the god, and after drinking wine, they chose two young men to run through the streets of Rome holding pieces of the goat skin above their heads, striking anyone they met with the goat hide. Young women especially would come forth voluntarily for the occasion, in the belief that being so touched would render them fruitful and bring easy childbirth.\n\nAccording to the Catholic Encyclopedia (1908), at least three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs and all quite obscure, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under the date of February 14:\n\na priest in Rome who suffered martyrdom in the second half of the 3rd century and was buried on the Via Flaminia. \na bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) also suffered martyrdom in the second half of the 3rd century and was also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than the priest. \na martyr in North Africa, about whom little else is known. \nThe connection between St. Valentine and romantic love is not mentioned in any early histories and is regarded by secular historians as purely a matter of legend (see below). The feast of St. Valentine was first declared to be on February 14 by Pope Gelasius I in 496. There is a widespread legend that he created the day to counter the practice held on Lupercalia of young men and women pairing off as lovers by drawing their names out of an urn, but this practice is not attested in any sources from that era.\n\nIn the 19th century, relics of St. Valentine were donated by Pope Gregory XVI to the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland, which has become a popular place of pilgrimage on February 14.\n\nIn 1969, as part of a larger effort to pare down the number of saint days of purely legendary origin, the Church removed St. Valentine's Day as an official holiday from its calendar.\n\n[edit]\nValentine\nThe influential Gnostic teacher Valentinius was a candidate for Bishop of Rome in 143. In his teachings, the marriage bed assumed a central place in his version of Christian love, an emphasis sharply in contrast with the asceticism of mainstream Christianity. Stephan A. Hoeller assesses Valentinius on the subject: "In addition to baptism, anointing, eucharist, the initiation of priests and the rites of the dying, the Valentinian Gnosis mentions prominently two great and mysterious sacraments called 'redemption' (apolytrosis) and 'bridal chamber' respectively." [1].
52715
Its a day when u show ur significant other how much u love and appreciate them although u should be showing them everday but for the people who dont...why not take one day out of the year to just appreciate and love ur mate.
43257
Hi.\n\nThere's plenty of information over this topic in various search engines.\nhttp://www.google.com/search?q=History+Valentines+wikipedia&btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky\nhttp://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=%2BHistory+Valentines\nhttp://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=%2BHistory+Valentines+wiki\nhttp://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=+site:dmoz.org+History+Valentines\nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/search/search_result?p=History+Valentines\nhttp://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=+site:answers.com+%2BHistory+Valentines\nhttp://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=History+Valentines+forum\nhttp://answers.google.com/answers/search?q=History+Valentines&qtype=all&num=100&sort=qeprice%3AA%3AR%3Ad1\nhttp://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=History+Valentines
171500
How about that?\n"Honey, this is the happies Valentine day I had, because I got to share it with you. Before you, no Valentine Day was worth its name for you. I am so happy to spend it with you this time and many times more."\n\nHope that helps.
166549
There are different legends but all I have read stated that St. Valentine a roman catholic priest in the third century of Rome, started it all. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers he outlawed marriages for young men. Valentine thought this was a great injustice and began to secretly marry young lovers. When this was discovered he was jailed. That is one story another was that he was jailed for not denounceing his faith and one says he tried to help christians escape the roman jails because they were often beaten and tortured for being christian. In the end all the stories say that while he was in jail he fell in love with the jailer's daughter who visited him often. Before he died he left her a love letter that was signed : from your Valentine.  I read he was killed February 14, 269 A.D. and  in 469 A.D. Pope Gelasius set that day aside in honor of St. Valentine. \nIn the U.S. though, Miss Esther HOwland is given credit for sending the very first valentine cards and in the 1800's commercial valentines were introduced.