St. Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14. It is a festival of romantic love and many people give cards, letters, flowers or presents to their spouse or partner. Common symbols of Valentine’s Day are hearts, red roses and Cupid.
Cupid is usually portrayed as a small winged figure with a bow and arrow. In mythology, he uses his arrow to strike the hearts of people. People who falling in love are sometimes said to be ‘struck by Cupid’s arrow. The holiday has origins in the Roman festival of Lupercalia, held in mid-February. The festival, which celebrating the coming of spring, including fertility rites and the pairing off of women with men by lottery. At the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius I replaced Lupercalia with St. Valentine’s Day. It came to be a day of romance from about the 14th century.
Nobody really knows the true history behind this storied holiday. Even historians find themselves arguing over the exact traditions from which the present-day holiday takes inspiration. The day is popular in the United States. It is the most common wedding anniversary, and mass weddings of hundreds of couples are not uncommon on that date. The holiday has expanded to expressions of affection among relatives and friends. Many schoolchildren exchange valentines with one another on this day.
