Added: 01/24/2006 |
Valentines Day ? The Celebration Day For Love And FriendshipValentines Day is celebrated allover the world on February 14th. Though it is a day which promotes love and friendship and revolves about young unmarried people, it is very common to see older and married people also indulging in the romance of this day.
The custom dictated by this day is that boys declare their love to the girls they love and ask them to be their Valentine that day. The girls who accept are believed to reciprocate the feelings. Youngsters have parties on these days, celebrate with friends and of course, the Valentines. Boys give small tokens of their love through gifts as a Valentine Day gift. The Valentine Day gift can be anything that the girl loves. These can range from the symbolic ones such as flowers, candy, soft toys, heart-shapes balloons and so on to the expensive ones like mobiles, digital cameras, jewellery, clothes and even cars. Valentines Day is a day given to the boy as an occasion to impress the girl and convince her of his love.
For married couples, the Valentine Day is a day to renew the magic of courtship and romance of the early days of marriage. The husband usually courts his wife with all the tenderness and love he showed when he first met her. Valentines Day for the married couple is a confirmation of their commitment and love to each other.
The married people too exchange gifts, and this Valentines day gift covers the same range as those of the younger counterparts. However, the depth of the feelings and type of celebration are different. While the young people prefer to have fun and frolic parties with music and dancing and food, the older ones prefer candle-lit dinners with long walks under moonlight, and in general peace and quiet when they can reminisce and recapture the romantic feelings of their youth.
How did the Valentines Day come to be celebrated as the lovers' and friendship day is a long story - and a true one. It goes back to as early as 270 AD when Emperor Claudius ruled Rome. He was a very cruel emperor and enjoyed many blood-bath games where people had to kills and maim each other in order to win. He also wanted to have a very large army and he loved to wage war. Since he was very unpopular, the response to army enrollment was very poor. Emperor Claudius thought that the poor response is due the men's attachment to their wives and children. In a drastic mood, he decided to cancel all marriages and forbid Roman to marry or get engaged.
A priest called Valentine opposed this unjust rule and continued to promote love and also performed marriages secretly. He was caught, imprisoned and sentenced to death. He died on 14th February 270. Around this time of the year, the Roman heathen were celebrating the feast of Lupercalia - a festival where young men are paired with young girl for the whole festival period, through a lottery system. Many times these pairings turned into marriages. In order to commemorate Valentine's martyrdom, the Roman Catholic Church chose February 14th to replace Lupercalia festival, and called it St Valentine's Day.
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