Valentines

Valentines

Every February stores put out heart shaped boxes of candy, flowers, pink and red decorated cards, and even cute little stuffed animals for the nation-wide celebrated holiday Valentine’s Day. According to Webster’s Online Dictionary, Valentine’s Day is “ a day for the exchange of tokens of affection”(Webster’s Online Dictionary). Valentine’s Day has changed over the centuries and many people don’t even know why the holiday is celebrated. One man known as St. Valentine is the reason that we exchange gifts with our loved ones on Valentine’s Day.
St. Valentine was a priest who lived during the third century in Rome when Emperor Claudius II ruled the country. Claudius was having trouble finding men to join his army at the time and he came to the conclusion that it was because the men did not want to leave their loved ones. He decided single men would make better soldiers for his army so he called off all marriages and engagements in Rome. St. Valentine greatly disagreed with the Emperor and married couples secretly. It was not long before Claudius discovered the secret and he sentenced Valentine to death. But while St. Valentine awaited his death in prison, he had fallen in love with the jailor’s daughter who came to visit him frequently. Before the day of his death, St. Valentine sent his love a letter and he had signed it “From Your Valentine.”

Mahaffy 2
February 14th was supposedly the day that St. Valentine was killed, and that’s the reason we celebrate Valentine’s Day on that day (The History of Valentine’s Day).
A tradition that St. Valentine started was the giving of love notes. In Europe during the Middle Ages Valentine’s Day was more simple. The giving of love notes or poems marked the holiday and usually there was some form of a gathering like a ball. Today in the United States Valentine’s Day is celebrated much differently. Elementary schools throw parties where little kids give their whole class a valentine and they make boxes...

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