The official definition of Valentine is ‘a person to whom one sends such a card or whom one asks to be one’s sweetheart’ and the term Valentine’s Day is known as ‘a day for the exchange of tokens of affection.’ But has this changed over the years? I am a teenage girl and for the past 2 years I have been in a relationship for this occasion but now I’m single and I found it surprising yet interesting to see how drastically my opinion on this day changed in quite a short space of time therefore I was inspired to write the following article about this day.
Valentine’s Day is an annual celebration which falls on the 14th day of the month. It is usually celebrated by giving flowers, chocolate and cards those you love. We do these things in honour of Saint Valentine. Nowadays, many people don’t really think about this. However, it is said that Valentine was a priest during the third century Rome. At this time, there was an Emperor named Claudius II who claimed that married soldiers lacked strength other than single soldiers who were more capable of their occupation therefore he outlawed marriage for young men aspiring to become soldiers so he could have a stronger army. Supposedly, Valentine decided against this as he thought it was unfair and chose to marry young couples in secret. That is one story, there is also a legend that has been told claiming that Valentine was a man in prison who fell in love with his jailor’s daughter and before he was killed he sent the first ‘Valentine’ to himself when he wrote the woman a letter signing it with ‘Your Valentine’ this is why people are lead to believe why these words are still used on cards in the 21st century.