Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, a very popular European concept of designating 14th of February as the Lover's day, when lovers openly profess their love for each other by sending Valentine love messages, Valentine Cards, Valentine Flowers, candies, confectionaries and other gifts. Though it has caught up with rest of the world some

countries have declared Valentine's Day a holiday.Though Valentine's Day became associated to romantic love in the Middle Ages when the tradition of courtly love flourished, originally it was a special day to commemorate the early Christian martyrs named St. Valentine.

Many modern sources also link 14th February to the Graeco- Roman February holidays to fertility and love of St. Valentine's day since in ancient Rome 'Lupercalia', an archaic rite connected to fertility was celebrated on 15th February. Mystery still clouds over the origin of this heady day for the lovers but many for years have quoted verses for their lovers.

Charles, Duke of Orleans, who was held in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 wrote to his wife a valentine message professing his deep love for her in a rondeau.

The Golden Legend
Legends in the early medieval period tell that St. Valentine was persecuted as a Christian by Roman Emperor Claudius II. The Roman emperor believed that single men were more efficient as soldiers and thus issued an order that forbade any young man to marry. St. Valentine however found this to be unjust and secretly married off young lovers. On coming to know about this

secret activity being performed St. Valentine was jailed. The emperor was however impressed by St. Valentine and wanted to save his life by converting him to Roman paganism but Valentine refused and instead tried to convert the King to Christianity. The Golden Legend further states that St. Valentine who was frequently visited by the jailer's blind daughter healed her before being executed. He also wrote the first valentine message to her addressing the girl as his beloved. The note read "From Your Valentine".