Valentine’s Day is a day full of heart shaped balloons, stuffed bears, flowers and of course chocolate. It’s a holiday looked upon in different ways. You either have someone to spend it with or you’re eating chocolate you bought for yourself at home while crying to the Notebook. But there’s more to it than just cards and roses. Let’s look at the history of this bittersweet holiday we celebrate every February 14. 

Valentine’s Day is usually celebrated by sending cards or letters and giving gifts such as chocolate or other candies. Many adults spend this day with their significant other and enjoy dinner. Heart- shaped chocolates are by far the most common candy used for this holiday. This holiday is normally celebrated worldwide, 145 million greeting cards are exchanged every year for Valentine’s Day. 8 billion conversation hearts are manufactured each year, and 250 million roses are grown just for Valentine’s Day! This holiday originated as a Christian feast day with your family members. The significant of this holiday is in honor of 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. The very first Valentines Day was in the 8th century Gelasian Sacramentary recorded the celebration. It did not always start off as a romantic holiday, it was meant for feasting with others. The day did not become associated with romance love in the 14th and 15th centuries. Saint Valentines was a 3rd century Roman Saint, commemorated in Western Christianity on February 14th and in Eastern Orthodoxy on July 6th. He is also a patron Saint of Terni, epilepsy, and beekeepers. The Greek God of valentine’s day is Cupid. is the god of desire, erotic love, attraction, and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus and the god of war Mars. He is also known in Latin as Amor (“Love”). 

So overall February 14th is either a day you excite over, or a day you dread but it can be agreed that the history behind it goes back centuries and is the reason we have a day to celebrate the people we love.