Why do we celebrate valentine’s day?

While growing we didn’t know anything about valentine’s day or any other such day. It doesn’t belong to our Indian history and culture. So possibly that’s why we never knew about this day and even never heard from our elders and parents. But when some of us go through our teenage or childhood, suddenly we get to know about this day from movies and eventually by big, small advertisements and marketing executives. Since then, we all blindly and passionately followed and celebrated without knowing the truth behind it and the actual reasons for celebrating such a day or festival. Because now this day from a single day is extended to valentine’s week or in some region’s valentine month. It became one of the most popular celebrations in the world. Specially very famous among youngsters and teenagers.

As the day is on doorsteps chances are high you have already planned or are currently planning. How you are going to celebrate this day on February 14? But do you know the actual truth behind this day? If not then welcome here. You are going to know very soon.

We all heard about saint Valentine. The day is named after the catholic priest who lived in Rome in the 3rd century. Now you may wonder how could this romantic day for couples and loved ones is named after the saint. Because saints should not be involved in any kind of romantic or couple things. There are many legends or stories behind it.

The Early History of Valentine’s Day
The first legend is; when the priest Valentine was living in Rome, many Romans were converting to Christianity. But the emperor of that time Claudius II was pagan and created strict laws about what Christians were allowed to do. Claudius believed that Roman soldiers should be completely devoted to Rome and therefore passed a law preventing them from marrying. Saint Valentine began to help soldiers to get married. He started performing secret Christian weddings for soldiers. Eventually, Valentine was found out and jailed for his crimes against Claudius. Saint Valentine was a strong believer in Christianity and tried to spread that as far as possible. In jail also valentine was into spreading Christianity. He tried to teach the Christian approach to prisoners also. The jailer was not happy with his activity and didn’t agree with him. So, he asked to prove valentine his faith. The jailer asked valentine to restore the eyesight of his blind daughter. Saint valentine has put his hand on his daughter’s eyes and cured her blindness. After that everyone started believing in him.

It was a time when Christianity had not become the dominant religion. Roman religion was Polytheistic religion in which idol worship was a common practice. But in Christianity, they don’t believe in idol worship. The emperor Claudius also started to believe in saint valentine. Things become worst when St. Valentine asked Claudius to convert to Christianity. valentine requested the emperor to remove idols. Emperor got furious and asked valentine to leave the faith in Christianity or accept death as punishment. The fearless and strong believer Saint valentine accepted the death and thus was punished and murdered on 14th February 270 A.D.

There is also a legend that saint Valentine became friends with that blind girl of a jailer to whom he gave eyesight. Right before he died, he wrote one letter to that girl in which he ended the letter with “From your Valentine”. Yes, my dear friends, this is the famous phrase that we have all used widely on Valentine’s day since we celebrate.

Another very popular legend; this day originated from grossly immoral pagan practices. The Romans had a pagan festival called Lupercalia. This was held every year from 13 to 15 February in Rome. This pagan festival has its roots in the third century B.C.E. The festival began with a sacrifice of one or more goats and a dog by the priest. Which they called Luperci. After killing the animals, the Luperci were led to the altar to have their foreheads touched with the bloody knife. After which their foreheads were wiped with wool dipped in milk and by the way they were required to laugh throughout the rituals. After that, there were unpleasant and gross activities of males and females. Because this festival is known for the fertility of a woman and choosing partners, especially women, but in a very weird and gross way.

At the end of the 5th century, since its popularity among the people can no longer be controlled or contained, the Roman Catholic pope Gelasius I recast Lupercalia to win over these pagans, so he gave it the name Saint Valentine’s Day around A.D. 496 and also moved to February 14. It was named after saint valentine because he got martyrdom on that day.

How did Valentine’s Day Develop?
It was not until much later however that the day became associated with love. During the middle age, there was a belief that February 14 was the first day of the bird’s mating season, which added to the idea that Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance.

After that, the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer was the first person to establish 14th February as a romantic day and a day of celebrating love and romance in his poem “THE PARLAMENT OF FOULES” Since then 18th century on all social platforms people celebrated the day by exchanging love messages and handwritten notes and cards to celebrate love and affection towards friends and loved ones.

By all these bunches of legends and incidents, I think now you understood what is actual reason and story behind us celebrating this day is. What the actual story is and how it was converted into a modern-day celebration.

What is Valentine’s Day in Contemporary Times?
If we move on to factual data, you can easily understand how big money and pleasure have taken place of true love and affection. This is the time of the year when the sale of flowers, cards, jewellery, chocolates, gifts for men & women, romantic dinners, sexual paraphernalia and the occupancy of hotels and “short time” rooms are at their annual peak. According to market research, Valentine’s day sales reached $18.6 billion and according to Hallmark, an estimated 145 million Valentine’s day cards are sent each year, making it the second largest card-sending day of the ear.

So, here comes the question; what’s wrong with giving chocolates, flower cards etc., to your loved ones? What’s wrong with telling a girl or a boy that you love them? What’s wrong with all these things???

Nothing is wrong with all these things. But when you love someone, this is not the same kind as superficial, erotic and romantic love that is being promoted on valentine’s day. The actual divine love is higher than that. Real true love is about being loyal, faithful, committed and dedicated. It’s about helping each other on everyday bases, respecting each other in any situation and most importantly understanding each other. Love is not meant to be limited to materialistic things. It should be celebrated every day.