It is Valentine’s Day, and since I am single, I get together with a couple of other single women for a Galentine celebration. The theme is “From Russia With Love.” One woman is making beef stroganoff, another is to make borscht (beet soup) and my assignment is to bring the makings for Moscow mules — vodka and ginger beer. When we discussed it a couple of days ago, it seemed like a fun and exciting thing to do. However, this Sunday the temperature has fallen, and there are icy roads. “Real” winter does not happen in Texas often, so there are no giant machines clearing off the highways and residential streets. I watch the drivers out my window who seem to be managing well and decide to chance the 20-minute trip to my friend’s apartment. The woman bringing the borscht is not so adventurous, but my friend’s next-door neighbor comes and brings warm, crusty bread. I slip and slide a little in the parking lot but am thrilled to find an open parking space right in front of her apartment. The woman hosting has also made a pear tossed salad, thawed out some frozen vegetables since the borscht didn’t arrive and has Russian chocolate mint mini pies for dessert. The food was delicious, the company congenial and gracious and the Moscow mules rocked in stylish copper cups. I’m sure many of you had festive celebrations also. Let’s find out more about this holiday.
According to Wikipedia, Valentine's Day — also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine — is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, through later folk traditions, has become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world.
There are many martyrdom stories associated with various Valentines connected to February 14, including an account of the imprisonment of Saint Valentine of Rome for ministering to Christians persecuted under the Roman Empire in the third century. According to an early tradition, Saint Valentine restored sight to the blind daughter of his jailer. Numerous later additions to the legend have better related it to the theme of love: an 18th-century embellishment to the legend claims he wrote the jailer's daughter a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a farewell before his execution; another addition posits that Saint Valentine performed weddings for Christian soldiers who were forbidden to marry.
The Feast of Saint Valentine was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD to be celebrated on February 14 in honor of Saint Valentine of Rome, who died on that date in 269 AD. The day became associated with romantic love in the 14th and 15th centuries when notions of courtly love flourished, apparently by association with the "lovebirds" of early spring. In 18th-century England, it grew into an occasion in which couples expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery and sending greeting cards known as "valentines." Valentine's Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards. In Italy, Saint Valentine’s Keys are given to lovers "as a romantic symbol and an invitation to unlock the giver's heart," as well as to children to ward off epilepsy, called Saint Valentine's Malady.
Saint Valentine's Day is not a public holiday in any country, although it is an official feast day in the Anglican Communion and the Lutheran Church. Many parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrate Saint Valentine's Day on July 6 in honor of Roman presbyter Saint Valentine, and on July 30 in honor of Hieromartyr Valentine, the Bishop of Interamna or modern Terni, Italy.
History
Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred in 269 AD and was added to the calendar of saints by Pope Gelasius I in 496 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. The relics of Saint Valentine were kept in the church and catacombs of San Valentino in Rome, which "remained an important pilgrim site throughout the Middle Ages until the relics of St. Valentine were transferred to the church of Santa Prassede during the pontificate of Nicholas IV.” The flower-crowned skull of Saint Valentine is exhibited in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome. Other relics are found at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland.
Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna — now Terni, in central Italy — and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian in 273. He is buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location from Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni. Professor Jack B. Oruch of the University of Kansas notes that "abstracts of the acts of the two saints were in nearly every church and monastery of Europe." The Catholic Encyclopedia also speaks of a third saint named Valentine who was mentioned in early martyrologies under the date of February 14. He was martyred in Africa with a number of companions, but nothing more is known about him. A relic claimed to be Saint Valentine of Terni's head was preserved in the abbey of New Minster, Winchester, and venerated.
February 14 is celebrated as St. Valentine's Day in various Christian denominations; it has, for example, the rank of “commemoration” in the calendar of saints in the Anglican communion. In addition, the feast day of Saint Valentine is also given in the calendar of saints of the Lutheran Church. However, in the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, the feast day of Saint Valentine on February 14 was removed from the general Roman calendar and relegated to particular — local or even national — calendars for the following reason: "Though the memorial of Saint Valentine is ancient, it is left to particular calendars, since apart from his name, nothing is known of Saint Valentine except that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14."
The feast day is still celebrated in Balzan or Malta where relics of the saint are claimed to be found, and also throughout the world by traditionalist Catholics who follow the older, pre-Second Vatican Council calendar.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, St. Valentine is recognized on July 6, in which Saint Valentine, the Roman presbyter, is honored; in addition, the Eastern Orthodox Church observes the feast of Hieromartyr Valentine, Bishop of Interamna, on July 30.
Legends
J.C. Cooper, in “The Dictionary of Christianity,” writes that Saint Valentine was "a priest of Rome who was imprisoned for succoring persecuted Christians." Contemporary records of Saint Valentine were most probably destroyed during this Diocletianic persecution in the early fourth century. In the fifth or sixth century, a work called “Passio Marii et Marthae” published a story of martyrdom for Saint Valentine of Rome, perhaps by borrowing tortures that happened to other saints, as was usual in the literature of that period. The same events are also found in “Bede’s Martyrology,” which was compiled in the 8th century. It states that Saint Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing Julia, the blind daughter of his jailer Asterius. The jailer's daughter and his 46-member household — family members and servants — came to believe in Jesus and were baptized.
A later “Passio” repeated the legend, adding that Pop Julius I built a church over his sepulchre; it is a confusion with a fourth-century tribune called Valentino who donated land to build a church at a time when Julius was a pope. The legend was picked up as fact by later martyrologies, starting with “” in the eighth century. It was repeated in the 13th century, in “The Golden Legend.”
There is an additional embellishment to “The Golden Legend,” which according to Henry Ansgar Kelly, was added in the 18th century and widely repeated. On the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he is supposed to have written the first "valentine" card himself, addressed to the daughter of his jailer Asterius, who was no longer blind, signing as "Your Valentine." The expression "From your Valentine" was later adopted by modern Valentine letters. This legend has been published by both American Greetings and The History Channel.
John Foxe, an English historian, as well as the Roman Catholic order of Carmelites, state that Saint Valentine was buried in the Church of Praxedes in Rome, located near the cemetery of Saint Hippolytus. This order says that according to legend, "Julia herself planted a pink-blossomed almond tree near his grave. Today, the almond tree remains a symbol of abiding love and friendship."
Another embellishment suggests that Saint Valentine performed clandestine Christian weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry. The Roman Emperor Claudius II supposedly forbade this in order to grow his army, believing that married men did not make for good soldiers. However, George Monger writes that this marriage ban was never issued and that Claudius II told his soldiers to take two or three women for themselves after his victory over the Goths.
According to legend, in order "to remind these men of their vows and God's love, Saint Valentine is said to have cut hearts from parchment", giving them to these soldiers and persecuted Christians, a possible origin of the widespread use of hearts on St. Valentine's Day.
Saint Valentine supposedly wore a purple amethyst ring, customarily worn on the hands of Christian bishops with an image of Cupid engraved in it, a recognizable symbol associated with love that was legal under the Roman Empire; Roman soldiers would recognize the ring and ask him to perform marriage for them. Probably due to the association with Saint Valentine, amethyst has become the birthstone of February, which is thought to attract love.
Folk traditions
While the European folk traditions connected with Saint Valentine and St. Valentine's Day have become marginalized by the modern Anglo-American customs connecting the day with romantic love, there are some remaining associations connecting the saint with the advent of spring.
While the custom of sending cards, flowers, chocolates and other gifts originated in the UK, Valentine's Day still remains connected with various regional customs in England. In Norfolk, a character called “Jack” Valentine knocks on the rear door of houses leaving sweets and presents for children. Although he was leaving treats, many children were scared of this mystical person.
In Slovenia, Saint Valentine or Zdravko was one of the saints of spring, the saint of good health and the patron of beekeepers and pilgrims. A proverb says that "Saint Valentine brings the keys of roots." Plants and flowers start to grow on this day. It has been celebrated as the day when the first work in the vineyards and in the fields commences. It is also said that birds propose to each other or marry on that day. Another proverb says "Valentine – the first spring saint," as in some places — especially the region of White Carniola — Saint Valentine marks the beginning of spring. Valentine's Day has only recently been celebrated as the day of love. The day of love was traditionally March 12, Saint Gregory's Day or February 22, Saint Vincent’s Day. The patron of love was Saint Anthony, whose day has been celebrated on June 13.
Connection with romantic love
Possible ancient origins
No evidence has been demonstrated to link St. Valentine's Day and the rites of the ancient Roman purification festival of Lupercalia, despite persistent and sometimes detailed claims by many authors to the contrary, nor to any otherwise unspecified Greco-Roman holiday supposed to have celebrated love or fertility. The celebration of Saint Valentine is not known to have had any romantic connotations until Chaucer's poetry about "Valentine's Day" in the 14th century, some 700 years after celebration of Lupercalia is believed to have ceased. In the drawing above, the Lupercalia celebrants are dressed as dogs and goats with Cupid and personifications of fertility.
In ancient Rome, Lupercalia was observed February 13–15. It was a rite connected to purification and health and had only slight connection to fertility as a part of health and none to love. Lupercalia was a festival local to the city of Rome. The more general Festival of Juno Februa, meaning "Juno the purifier" or "the chaste Juno," was celebrated on February 13–14. Pope Gelasius I (492–496) abolished Lupercalia. Some researchers have theorized that Gelasius I replaced Lupercalia with the celebration of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and claim a connection to the 14th century's connotations of romantic love, but there is no historical indication that he ever intended such a thing. Also, the dates do not fit because at the time of Gelasius I, the feast was only celebrated in Jerusalem, and it was on February 14 only because Jerusalem placed the Nativity of Jesus or Christmas on January 6. Although it was called "Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary," it also dealt with the presentation of Jesus at the temple. Jerusalem's Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary on February 14 became the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple on February 2, as it was introduced to Rome and other places in the sixth century, after Gelasius I's time.
Alban Butler in his “Lifes of the Principal Saints” (1756–1759) claimed without proof that men and women in Lupercalia drew names from a jar to make couples, and that modern Valentine's letters originated from this custom. In reality, this practice originated in the Middle Ages — with no link to Lupercalia — with men drawing the names of girls at random to couple with them. This custom was combated by priests, for example by Frances de Sales around 1600, apparently by replacing it with a religious custom of girls drawing the names of apostles from the altar. However, this religious custom is recorded as soon as the 13th century in the life of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, so it could have a different origin.
Chaucer’s “Parliament of Fowls”
The first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is believed to be in the “Parliament of Fowls” in 1382 by Geoffrey Chaucer, a dream vision portraying a parliament for birds to choose their mates. Honoring the first anniversary of the engagement of 15-year-old King Richard II of England to 15-year-old Anne of Bohemia, Chaucer wrote:
"For this was on Saint Valentine's Day When every bird comes there to choose his match Of every kind that men may think of And that so huge a noise they began to make That earth and air and tree and every lake Was so full, that not easily was there space For me to stand—so full was all the place."
Readers have uncritically assumed that Chaucer was referring to February 14 as Valentine's Day. Henry Ansgar Kelly has observed that Chaucer might have had in mind the feast day of St. Valentine of Genoa, an early bishop of Genoa who died around AD 307; it was probably celebrated on May 3. A treaty providing for Richard II and Anne's marriage — the subject of the poem — was signed on May 2, 1381.
Jack B. Oruch notes that the date on which spring begins has changed since Chaucer's time because of the precession of the equinoxes and the introduction of the more accurate Gregorian calendar only in 1582. On the Julian calendar in use in Chaucer's time, February 14 would have fallen on the date now called February 23, a time when some birds have started mating and nesting in England.
Chaucer's “Parliament of Fowls” refers to a supposedly established tradition, but there is no record of such a tradition before Chaucer. The speculative derivation of sentimental customs from the distant past began with 18th-century antiquaries, notably Alban Butler, the author of “Butler’s Lives of Saints,” and have been perpetuated even by respectable modern scholars. Most notably, "the idea that Valentine's Day customs perpetuated those of the Roman Lupercalia has been accepted uncritically and repeated, in various forms, up to the present."
Three other authors who made poems about birds mating on St. Valentine's Day around the same years: Otton de Grandson from Savoy, John Gower from England and a knight called Pardo from Valencia. Chaucer most probably predated all of them; but due to the difficulty of dating medieval works, it is not possible to ascertain which of the four may have influenced the others.
Court of love
The earliest description of February 14 as an annual celebration of love appears in the “Charter of the Court of Love.” The charter — allegedly issued by Charles VI of France at Mantes-la-Jolie in 1400 — describes lavish festivities to be attended by several members of the royal court including a feast, amorous song and poetry competitions, jousting and dancing. Amid these festivities, the attending ladies would hear and rule on disputes from lovers. No other record of the court exists, and none of those named in the charter were present at Mantes except Charles's queen, Isabeau of Bavaria, who may well have imagined it all while waiting out a plague.
Valentine poetry
The earliest surviving valentine is a 15th-century rondeau written by Charles, Duke of Orléans to his wife, which commences.
"Je suis desja d'amour tanné Ma tres doulce Valentinée..."
- Charles d'Orléans, Rondeau VI,
lines 1–2
At the time, the duke was being held in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt, 1415.
The earliest surviving valentines in English appear to be those in the “Paston Letters,” written in 1477 by Margery Brewes to her future husband John Paston "my right well-beloved Valentine."
Valentine's Day is mentioned ruefully by Ophelia in William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” (1600–1601):
"To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day, All in the morning betime, And I a maid at your window, To be your Valentine. Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes, And dupp'd the chamber-door; Let in the maid, that out a maid Never departed more."
‒ William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5
John Donne used the legend of the marriage of the birds as the starting point for his epithalamion — poem written specifically for the bride on the way to her marital chamber — celebrating the marriage of Elizabeth, daughter of James I of England, and Frederick V, Elector Palatine, on Valentine's Day:
"Hayle Bishop Valentine whose day this is
All the Ayre is thy Diocese And all the chirping Queristers And other birds ar thy parishioners Thou marryest every yeare The Lyrick Lark, and the graue whispering Doue, The Sparrow that neglects his life for loue, The houshold bird with the redd stomacher Thou makst the Blackbird speede as soone, As doth the Goldfinch, or the Halcyon The Husband Cock lookes out and soone is spedd And meets his wife, which brings her feather-bed. This day more cheerfully than ever shine
This day which might inflame thy selfe old Valentine."
‒ John Donne, Epithalamion Vpon Frederick Count Palatine and the Lady Elizabeth marryed on St. Valentine’s Day
The verse "Roses are red" echoes conventions traceable as far back as Edmund Spenser's epic “The Faerie Queene” in 1590:
"She bath'd with roses red, and violets blew, And all the sweetest flowres, that in the forrest grew."
The modern cliché Valentine's Day poem can be found in the collection of English nursery rhymes “Gammer Gurton’s Garland” in 1784:
"The rose is red, the violet's blue,
The honey's sweet, and so are you. Thou art my love and I am thine; I drew thee to my Valentine: The lot was cast and then I drew,
And Fortune said it shou'd be you."
Modern times
In 1797, a British publisher issued “The Young Man’s Valentine Writer,” which contained scores of suggested sentimental verses for the young lover unable to compose his own. Printers had already begun producing a limited number of cards with verses and sketches, called "mechanical valentines." Paper valentines became so popular in England in the early 19th century that they were assembled in factories. Fancy valentines were made with real lace and ribbons, with paper lace introduced in the mid-19th century. In 1835, 60,000 Valentine cards were sent by post in the United Kingdom, despite postage being expensive.
A reduction in postal rates following Sir Rowland Hill's postal reforms with the 1840 invention of the postage stamp saw the number of Valentines posted increase, with 400,000 sent just one year after its invention, and ushered in the less personal but easier practice of mailing Valentines. That made it possible for the first time to exchange cards anonymously, which is taken as the reason for the sudden appearance of racy verse in an era otherwise prudishly Victorian. Production increased — "Cupid's Manufactory" as Charles Dickens termed it — with over 3,000 women employed in manufacturing. The Laura Seddon Greeting Card Collection at Manchester Metropolitan University gathers 450 Valentine's Day cards dating from early 19th century Britain, printed by the major publishers of the day. The collection appears in Seddon's book “Victorian Valentines” in 1996.
In the United States, the first mass-produced Valentines of embossed paper lace were produced and sold shortly after 1847 by Esther Howland (1828–1904) of Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father operated a large book and stationery store, but Howland took her inspiration from an English Valentine she had received from a business associate of her father. Intrigued with the idea of making similar Valentines, Howland began her business by importing paper lace and floral decorations from England. A writer in Graham’s American Monthly observed in 1849, "Saint Valentine's Day ... is becoming, nay it has become, a national holyday." The English practice of sending Valentine's cards was established enough to feature as a plot device in Elizabeth Gaskell’s “Mr. Harrison’s Confessions” in 1851: "I burst in with my explanations: 'The valentine I know nothing about.' 'It is in your handwriting', said he coldly." Since 2001, the Greeting Card Association has been giving an annual "Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary."
Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have given way to mass-produced greeting cards. In the UK, just under half of the population spend money on their Valentines, and around £1.9 billion was spent in 2015 on cards, flowers, chocolates and other gifts. The mid-19th century Valentine's Day trade was a harbinger of further commercialized holidays in the U.S. to follow.
In 1868, the British chocolate company Cadbury created Fancy Boxes – a decorated box of chocolates – in the shape of a heart for Valentine's Day. Boxes of filled chocolates quickly became associated with the holiday. In the second half of the 20th century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manner of gifts, such as giving jewelry.
The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately 190 million valentines are sent each year in the US. Half of those valentines are given to family members other than husband or wife, usually to children. When the valentine-exchange cards made in school activities are included the figure goes up to 1 billion, and teachers become the people receiving the most valentines. The average Valentine's Day spending has increased every year in the U.S, from $108 a person in 2010 to $131 in 2013.
The rise of internet popularity at the turn of the millennium is creating new traditions. Every year millions of people use digital means of creating and sending Valentine's Day greeting messages such as e-cards, love coupons or printable greeting cards. An estimated 15 million e-valentines were sent in 2010. Valentine's Day is considered by some to be a Hallmark holiday due to its commercialization.
In the modern era, liturgically, the Lutheran Church and Anglican Church have a service for St. Valentine's Day — the Feast of St. Valentine, which includes the optional rite of the renewal of marriage vows. In 2016, the Catholic bishops of England and Wales established a novena prayer "to support single people seeking a spouse ahead of St. Valentine's Day."
Brazil
In Brazil, the Dia dos Namorados — literally "Lovers' Day" or "Boyfriends'/Girlfriends' Day" — is celebrated on June 12, probably because that is the day before Saint Anthony's day, known there as the marriage saint, when traditionally many single women perform popular rituals, called simpatias, in order to find a good husband or boyfriend. Couples exchange gifts, chocolates, cards and flower bouquets. The February 14 Valentine's Day is not celebrated at all because it usually falls too little before or too little after the Brazilian Carnival that can fall anywhere from early February to early March and lasts almost a week. Because of the absence of Valentine's Day and due to the celebrations of the Carnivals, Brazil was recommended by U.S. News & World Report as a tourist destination during February for Western singles who want to get away from the holiday.
Afghanistan
In the Afghan tradition, love is often expressed through poetry. Some new generation budding poets like Ramin Mazhar, Mahtab Sahel are expressing themselves through poetry using Valentine's Day expressing concerns on any likelihood of erosion of freedoms. In their political comment they defy fear by saying “I kiss you amid the Taliban.”
China
In Chinese, Valentine's Day is called Lovers' Festival. The "Chinese Valentine's Day" is the Qixi Festival, celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. It commemorates a day on which a legendary cowherder and weaving maid are allowed to be together. In Chinese culture, there is an older observance related to lovers, called "The Night of Sevens." According to the legend, the cowherd star and the weaver maid star are normally separated by the Milky Way or silvery river but are allowed to meet by crossing it on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Chinese calendar.
In recent years, celebrating White Day — one month after Valentine’s Day, when people give reciprocal gifts to those who gave them gifts on Valentine's Day — has also become fashionable among some young people.
India
In India, in antiquity, there was a tradition of adoring Kamadeva, the lord of love; exemplified by the erotic carvings in the Khajuraho Group of Monuments and by the writing of the “Kamasutra.” This tradition was lost around the Middle Ages, when Kamadeva was no longer celebrated, and public displays of sexual affection became frowned upon. This repression of public affections began to loosen in the 1990s.
Valentine's Day celebrations did not catch on in India until around 1992. It was spread due to the programs in commercial TV channels, such as MTV, dedicated radio programs and love letter competitions, in addition to an economical liberalization that allowed the explosion of the valentine card industry. The celebration has caused a sharp change in how people have been displaying their affection in public since the Middle Ages.
In modern times, Hindu and Islamic traditionalists have considered the holiday to be cultural contamination from the West, a result of globalization in India. Shiv Sena and the Sangh Parivar have asked their followers to shun the holiday and the "public admission of love" because of them being "alien to Indian culture." Although these protests are organized by political elites, the protesters themselves are middle-class Hindu men who fear that the globalization will destroy the traditions in their society: arranged marriages, Hindu joint families, full-time mothers, etc. Despite these obstacles, Valentine's Day is becoming increasingly popular in India.
Valentine's Day has been strongly criticized from a postcolonial perspective by intellectuals from the Indian left. The holiday is regarded as a front for "Western imperialism," "neocolonialism” and "the exploitation of working classes through commercialism by multinational corporations.” Right wing Hindu nationalists are also hostile. In February 2012, Subash Chouhan of the Bajrang Dal warned couples that "They cannot kiss or hug in public places. Our activists will beat them up." He said, "We are not against love, but we criticize vulgar exhibition of love at public places."
Iran
In the first part of the 21st century, the celebration of Valentine's Day in Iran has been harshly criticized by Islamic teachers who see the celebrations as opposed to Islamic culture. In 2011, the Iranian printing works owners' union issued a directive banning the printing and distribution of any goods promoting the holiday, including cards, gifts and teddy bears. "Printing and producing any goods related to this day including posters, boxes and cards emblazoned with hearts or half-hearts, red roses and any activities promoting this day are banned ... Outlets that violate this will be legally dealt with," the union warned.
In 2016, local media reported that police had informed coffee shops and ice cream parlors in Tehran that they would be guilty of committing a crime if they encouraged "decadent Western culture through Valentine's Day rituals." Under Iran's Islamic law, unmarried couples are not allowed to mingle. That is why each year the printing works owners’ union issues an instruction on the ban of Valentine's Day, imposed by Iranian authorities which denies them from selling gifts such as cards, and boxes with the symbols of hearts and red roses. Iran says it is cracking down on Valentine's Day celebrations and shops engaging in them will be guilty of a crime. In recent years Iranian authorities have forbidden Valentine's celebrations, calling the holiday a “decadent Western custom” and threatening shops and restaurants with prosecution if they sell Valentine's Day gifts.
In Iran, the Sepandarmazgan or Esfandegan, is a festival where people express love towards their mothers and wives, and it is also a celebration of earth in ancient Persian culture. It has been progressively forgotten in favor of the Western celebration of Valentine's Day. The Association of Iran's Cultural and Natural Phenomena has been trying since 2006 to make Sepandarmazgan a national holiday on February 17, in order to replace the Western holiday.
Israel
In Israel, the Jewish tradition of Tu B’Av has been revived and transformed into the Jewish equivalent of Valentine's Day. It is celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Av, usually in late August. In ancient times girls would wear white dresses and dance in the vineyards, where the boys would be waiting for them. Today, Tu B'Av is celebrated as a second holiday of love by secular people — along with Valentine's Day, and it shares many of the customs associated with Saint Valentine's Day in western societies. In modern Israeli culture Tu B'Av is a popular day to proclaim love, propose marriage and give gifts like cards or flowers.
Japan
In Japan, Morozoff Ltd. introduced the holiday for the first time in 1936, when it ran an advertisement aimed at foreigners. Later, in 1953, it began promoting the giving of heart-shaped chocolates; other Japanese confectionery companies followed suit thereafter. In 1958, the Isetan department store ran a "Valentine sale." Further campaigns during the 1960s popularized the custom.
The custom that only women give chocolates to men may have originated from the translation error of a chocolate-company executive during the initial campaigns. In particular, office ladies give chocolate to their co-workers. Unlike western countries, gifts such as greeting cards, candies, flowers or dinner dates are uncommon, and most of the gifts-related activity is about giving the right amount of chocolate to each person. Japanese chocolate companies make half their annual sales during this time of the year.
Many women feel obliged to give chocolates to all male co-workers, except when the day falls on a Sunday, a holiday. This is known as giri-choko, from giri ("obligation") and choko, ("chocolate"), with unpopular co-workers receiving only "ultra-obligatory" chō-giri choko cheap chocolate. This contrasts
with honmei-choko — literally "true feeling chocolate" — chocolate given to a loved one. Friends, especially girls, may exchange chocolate referred to as tomo- choko; from tomo meaning "friend."
In the 1980s, the Japanese National Confectionery Industry Association launched a successful campaign to make March 14 a "reply day," where men are expected to return the favor to those who gave them chocolates on Valentine's Day, calling it White Day for the color of the chocolates being offered. A previous failed attempt to popularize this celebration had been done by a marshmallow manufacturer who wanted men to return marshmallows to women.
In Japan, the romantic "date night" associated with Valentine's Day is celebrated on Christmas Eve.
South Korea
In South Korea, women give chocolate to men on February 14, and men give non-chocolate candy to women on March 14 or White Day. On April 14 or Black Day, those who did not receive anything on February or March 14 go to a Chinese-Korean restaurant to eat black noodles and lament their single life. Koreans also celebrate Pepero Day on November 11, when young couples give each other Pepero cookies. The date “11/11” is intended to resemble the long shape of the cookie. The 14th of every month marks a love-related day in Korea, although most of them are obscure. From January to December: Candle Day, Valentine's Day, White Day, Black Day, Rose Day, Kiss Day, Silver Day, Green Day, Music Day, Wine Day, Movie Day and Hug Day. Korean women give a much higher amount of chocolate than Japanese women.
United Kingdom
In the UK, just under half of the population spend money on their Valentines and around £1.3 billion is spent yearly on cards, flowers, chocolates and other gifts, with an estimated 25 million cards being sent.
In Wales, some people celebrate St. Dwynwen's Day on January 25 instead of — or as well as — Valentine's Day. The day commemorates Saint Dwynwen, the Welsh patron saint of love. The Welsh name for Saint Valentine is Sant Ffolant.
In a 2016 poll conducted by Channel 4 for Valentine's Day, Jane Austen’s line, “My heart is, and always will be, yours” from her novel “Sense and Sensibility” and said by Edward Ferrars (Hugh Grant) to Elinor Dashwood (Emma Thompson) in the acclaimed 1995 film adaptation, was voted the most romantic line from literature, film and TV by thousands of women.
France
In France, a traditionally Catholic country, Valentine's Day is known simply as "Saint Valentin" and is celebrated in much the same way as other Western countries. The relics of Saint Valentin de Terni, the patron of the St Valentine's Day, are in the Catholic church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste and Saint-Jean-l’Evangéliste located in the southern France town of Roquemaure, Gards. The celebrations of "Fête des Amoureux" takes place every two years on the Sunday closest to February 14. The village gets dressed in its 19th-century costume and puts on the program with over 800 people.
Valentine’s Day – 2010 film
“Valentine's Day” is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall. The screenplay and the story were written by Katherine Fugate, Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein. The film features an ensemble cast led by Jessica Alba, Kathy Batees, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Héctor Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Carter Jenkins, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley MacLaine, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts, Bryce Robinson and Taylor Swift in her film debut. The film received negative reviews but was a major box office success.
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