Thursday, February 14, 2008

Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate love, the most beautiful feeling in the world. Lucky are those who are loved and cared for.

Valentine's Day is a special day when you can be poetic and express the most precious feelings of yours to your beloved through poems.

Friends bring a smile to your face when you're sad and make your days bloom with lots of joy and happiness. It's Valentine's Day and it's time to let your friends know how much you value their friendship.

Valentine's Day History And Origin
People have been in love from time immemorial. It would be unjust to ascribe any particular history and origin to love and the feelings that come with it. But Valentine's Day, the day which celebrates love worldwide, sure has a history and origin of its own. February is historically chosen to be the month of love and romance and the month to celebrate Valentine's Day. Can you possibly overlook the deluge of love-drenched feelings, the slushy outbreak of 'being in love' and the pervasion of the color red all around when the calendar turns to the month of February? No. None of us can! For, the one thing that's inextricably linked to the month of February is Valentine's Day—the most coveted celebration after Christmas and a day kept aside to let love rule everywhere. Come what may, the hype and hoopla surrounding Valentine's Day never goes unnoticed, no matter which part of the world you are placed in! And Valentine's Day incidentally is the 2nd largest card-sending occasion, after Christmas.

Valentine's Day has shadows of both the Christian and Roman traditions. Celebrated famously on February 14 every year, some believe that Valentine's Day has its history and origin in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia. The latter was an annual feasting and celebration by the Romans to keep fearful wolves at bay from damaging their crops. Lupercalia was celebrated on February 15 with the young men striking the women because it was believed that these blows would make them more fertile. This association of Lupercalia with fertility is probably one reason why Valentine's Day is linked to this ancient Roman festival. Also, on the eve of Lupercalia, which is on February 14, it was quite popular for young women to find their partners for the festival. The romantic origin of Valentine's Day can even be traced to this practice.

No matter what the history and origin of Valentine's Day includes, it sure includes this patron saint named St. Valentine. Now history even has it that there has been more than one legend related to St. Valentine. Summing two legends, we now know that there were two saints (of the same name Valentine) belonging to the early Christian church. One legend holds that when the Roman Emperor Claudius II forbade young men to marry to make better soldiers out of single men, a priest named Valentine defied the orders and secretly married young couples. Consequently he was beheaded on February 14 for his 'crime'. Some even hold that Valentine was killed for trying to help Christians escape the atrocities prevailing in the Roman prisons. But whatever the facts, ever since, February 14 came to be celebrated as Valentine's Day commemorating this great patron of people in love worldwide. The other story talks of another Valentine who was a children's favorite but was despised by the Romans for his religious defiance. The Romans had him behind the bars but the children still managed to send fond messages to their favorite Valentine. The current custom of exchanging love messages on Valentines's Day might have roots to this age-old tale.

Yet another legend holds that when Valentine was in prison, he fell in love with the prison guard's daughter. And history states that before his death, he wrote a letter to his beloved signing off as 'From your Valentine'. It's not known to which extent these Valentine's Day legends related to its origin are true, but this expression 'From your Valentine' sure caught hold like wildfire. And people still send gifts and cards on Valentine's Day with this tag hanging from them—''From your Valentine''! So you keep the tradition going too.

Probably, the Americans began exchanging handmade Valentine's Day cards in the early years of the eighteenth century. And around 1840, a person called Esther A. Howland began selling the first big production of Valentine's Day greetings in America. Now, apart from all the facts and figures of Valentine's Day history and origin, one thing that's for sure is the choice of February as the month for celebrating love. In ancient Rome, February was the official kick-off month for the season of spring and was a time to feel happy all over again. Then in the Middle Ages, it was quite a popular belief in France and England that February was the birds' mating season. All these and many more taken together contributed to the consolidation of mid-February as the time for Valentines.

Finally, around 498 AD, Pope Gelasius I declared February 14 as St. Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day Customs And Traditions
To be very right, the Valentine's Day customs and traditions vary a little from one country to another. But on a broader look, you're sure to come across this—the customs and traditions of Valentine's Day commonly include pampering one's loved ones with loads of gifts and greetings, finding out the right partners for oneself and spelling out those three magical words 'I Love You'! There aren't ends to what one can do on Valentine's Day to make his/her dear ones feel more and more loved and cared for. Just remember, whatever you do, dip it in love and you're sure to come out in flying colors! Because, this is a day for those in love, a day to love, get love and live love. And it DOES NOT mean just lovers and sweethearts; it includes all those close to your heart. So be it your father, mother, siblings, cousins, friends, gramps or just anyone whom you dearly love—all you got to do is open your heart out to them, wish them a "Happy Valentine's Day" and tell them how much they mean to you!

One of the commonest customs and traditions of Valentine's Day is going on dates, looking for the right companion. This practice probably descended from the popular English belief that birds chose their partners on February 14. And today's Valentine's Day is a time totally high on love—a time to whisper sweet "I Love You"s, propose with a bold "be my valentines" or just flirt a special someone with a few love-verses or some sizzling kisses. Quite in keeping with the Valentine's Day customs and traditions, people buy romantic gifts and cards for their beloveds and sometimes they even get into the act of the day with fragrant flowers, candlelight dinners or a romantic day-out, whichever suits their pockets. Heart-shaped cards, candies and gifts are all the rage in the market this time around. Gifting of cute heart-locks and keys are also quite favorite customs and traditions on Valentine's Day, to say "You hold the keys to my heart". Then there's the custom of sending romantic messages to him or her on Valentine's Day. Thousands of stores sell mushy love-notes for this occasion to draw throngs of lovesick souls to their doorsteps. So if you want to pamper your sweetheart with some really romantic poems and songs, start queuing up now and avoid the rush!

In Wales, there was this tradition of gifting carved wooden love-spoons on Valentine's Day, while in some places of England, you'll find the custom of special Valentine's Day feasting and baking of extra-special Valentine buns. Now, the Italian and British maidens observe Valentine's Day with a very interesting custom. They stand by the window before sunrise on Valentine's Day with bated breath because they believe the first man they spot would be their partners for the rest of life. In Denmark, people send anonymous love-letters to their valentines to keep the fun alive and kicking.

One of the many other Valentine's Day customs and traditions is the pinning of bay leaves in the pillows by unmarried women on the Valentine's Day eve. This comes from a belief that they would be able to catch a glimpse of their future husbands in dreams if they pinned five bay leaves to their pillows and sprinkled rose water on them the night before Valentine's Day. Then there's also a popular Valentine's Day practice of choosing female-partners by drawing their names from a big jar. Men pick a piece of paper each and the woman whose name comes up, she becomes his Valentine. In some occasions, men wore their partners' names on their sleeves and it's probably from this that the popular Valentine's Day saying of "wearing the heart on sleeve" came from.

There are umpteen customs, traditions and beliefs associated with this most awaited day of Love—Valentine's Day. But not each is followed everywhere. With regional variations, the customs undergo slight modifications too. But the underlying current is the same everywhere! People wallow in their loved ones' company, talk about being in love, enjoy being in love, promise to be in love and feel love all around as all colors are put into the back-burner for the day and the only color that reigns, is red!

Valentine's Day Quotes
Quote this—Love, love and love alone is what we need on Valentine's Day! So being a little fancy on Valentine's Day is always advisable. So substitute your words with special Valentine's Day quotes to sweep your beloved off his/her feet. Quotes are witty, subtle, short and sweet and can express your love in the perfect way. Quotes are often dependable as not only are they rich in the wisdom of noted authors, but they are also poetic and artistic. Quotes on Valentine's Day speak volumes as they can convey your emotions in a few words, rather than in long, meticulous verses. Quotes often speak indirectly and that can be of great help too—if you are embarrassed to blurt out your feelings directly, just do it with the help of some Valentine's Day quotes! So go ahead and flatter your beloved with some of the best Valentine's Day quotes that you will find below.

Doubt that the stars are fire, doubt that the sun doth move, doubt truth to be a liar, but never doubt I love. ~William Shakespeare

Your words are my food, your breath is my wine. You are everything to me. ~Sarah Bernhardt

Through all eternity to thee A joyful song I'll raise, For oh! Eternity is too short To utter all thy praise. ~Joseph Addison

I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Grow old along with me The best is yet to be. ~Robert Browning

The simple lack of her is more to me than others' presence. ~Edward Thomas

We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end. ~Benjamin Disraeli

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ~The Bible : 1 Corinthians

Love is friendship set on fire. ~Jeremy Taylor

Love comforteth like sunshine after rain. ~William Shakespeare

The torch of love is lit in the kitchen. ~French Proverb

One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: that word is love. ~Sophocles

Love is the master key which opens the gates of happiness. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

You don't marry someone you can live with, you marry the person who you cannot live without. ~Author unknown

Of all the earthly music, that which reaches farthest into heaven is the beating of a truly loving heart. ~Henry Ward Beecher

kathleen was here writing on 2/14/2008 08:47:00 PM

Thursday, February 14, 2008

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