Celebrate Valentine’s Day with abundant love and happiness from your loved one!
Valentine’s Day, the day of love, is being celebrated across the globe on Friday, February 14th, 2025. Couples in love will be exchanging sweets, flowers and gifts with each other in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint and how did Valentine’s Day come about to be celebrated? Team Wedding Affair is set to solve all your mysteries and enlighten you about the significance of Valentine’s Day so that you can celebrate this day with even more enthusiasm and meaning!
The History of Valentine’s Day
There are several tales about the origins of Valentine’s Day. One dates back to 3rd century Rome, where Valentine was a priest who defied Emperor Claudius II’s ban on young men marrying, believing single men made better soldiers. He secretly performed weddings but was eventually caught and executed. Some believe the holiday is named after Saint Valentine of Terni, a bishop also executed by Claudius II.
Another story suggests Valentine was killed for helping Christians escape brutal Roman prisons. According to legend, he sent the first “Valentine” letter to a girl he loved, signing it “From your Valentine,” a phrase still used today.
Valentine’s Day is also linked to the Pagan festival of Lupercalia on February 15th, a fertility celebration honouring Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, and founders Romulus and Remus. Priests would sacrifice a goat, use its hide dipped in blood to slap crops and women for fertility, and later, men would draw women’s names from an urn, leading to couples who often married.
Read Also: 8 Unique Valentine’s Day Date Ideas
The Significance of Valentine’s Day
It was in the 5th century when Pope Gelasius declared February 14, as St. Valentine’s Day. The first record of the day was made by English poet Geoffrey Chaucer in his 1375 poem “Parliament of Fowls”, “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.” The oldest known Valentine still in existence is a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt.
In the 17th century Great Britain, the day of love was celebrated popularly for the first time, followed by enthusiastic celebrations in the middle 18th century, where friends and lovers would exchange handwritten messages. In 1900 these were replaced by printed cards and in 2025 these include extravagant dates and flirty texts.
Most couples celebrate Valentine’s Day by planning a dreamy date with their favourite food, designer outfits and a memorable Valentine’s Day kiss. We at Wedding Affair have covered all these topics in our blogs on Valentine’s Day. Make sure to check them out and enjoy a loving Valentine’s Day 2025!
Read Also: 5 Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas for Couples in Love
