Valentine's Day is named after Saint Valentine, a Catholic priest who lived in Rome in the 3rd Century. At the time of Valentine's life, many Romans were converting to Christianity, but the Emperor Claudius II was a 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. St Valentine began to marry these soldiers in secret Christian ceremonies and this was the beginning of his reputation for believing in the importance of love.
Eventually, Valentine was found out and jailed for his crimes against Claudius. While imprisoned, Valentine cared for his fellow prisoners and also his jailor's blind daughter. Legend has it that Valentine cured the girl's blindness and that his final act before being executed was to write her a love message signed ‘from your Valentine'. Valentine was executed on 14 February in the year 270.
In recent times people practice Valentine by sending love messages through special cards
beautifully created
expressing their affections using sentimental verse and proclaiming the beauty of the receiver and how much they were loved.
Now, in contemporary times Gifts such as flowers are sent with romantic messages to loved ones and couples spend special time together.
Many families choose to celebrate Valentine's Day with dinner, a picnic or special home-cooked meal. Many restaurants offer Valentine's Day dinner promotions and food is often presented with symbols of love like hearts and flowers. Another popular Valentine's Day activity is to indulge in a luxury hotel or a beautiful location, inorder to get away from all distractions and enjoy some quality time together. Marriage proposals are also popular on Valentine's Day, and it is often chosen as the perfect day to express their love and commitment.
Valentine's day may have been abused or misunderstood but it is important we seek every opportunity to reaffirm our love to families and people around us. In all you do, Ensure you don't loose your dignity.
Happy Valentine's day from all of us @ dwomansblog.blogspot.com.
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