Almost all the people in the world know the Valentin's Day,but do you know its origins?Here let's introduce the origins of Valentin's Day.

Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts areexchanged between loved ones, all in the name of st. valentine. but who is thismysterious saint and why do we celebrate this holiday? The history of Valentine’sDay -- and its patron saint -- is shrouded in mystery.

but we do know that February has long been a month of romance. st.valentine's day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian andancient roman tradition. so, who was saint valentine and how did he becomeassociated with this ancient rite? Today, the Catholic Church recognizes atleast three different saints named valentine or valentines, all of whom were martyred.February 14 is Valentine’s Day. it is celebrated as a lovers' holiday today,with the giving of candy, flowers, or other gifts between couples in love. Valentine’sDay has roots in several different legends that have found their way to usthrough the ages. In Romeit's said that it originated in 5th century as a tribute to st. valentine, acatholic bishop.

for eight hundred years prior to the establishment of valentine's day, theRomans had practiced a pagan celebration in mid-February commemorating youngmen's rite of passage to the god uppercuts. The celebration featured a lotteryin which young men would draw the names of teenage girls from a box. The girlassigned to each young man in that manner would be his female companion duringthe remaining year. in an effort to do away with the pagan festival, pope gelatinsordered a slight change in the lottery. Instead of the names of young women,the box would contain the names of saints. Both men and women were allowed todraw from the box, and the game was to emulate the ways of the saint they drewduring the rest of the year. Needless to say, many of the young roman men werenot too pleased with the rule changes.

Instead of the pagan god uppercuts, the church looked for a suitablepatron saint of love to take his place. They found an appropriate choice invalentine, who, in ad270 had been beheaded 3 by emperor Claudius. Claudius haddetermined that married men made poor soldiers. so he banned marriage from hisempire. But valentine would secretly marry young men that came to him. When Claudiusfound out about valentine, he first tried to convert him to paganism. Butvalentine reversed the strategy, trying instead to convert Claudius. When hefailed, he was stoned and beheaded.

During the days that valentine was imprisoned; he fell in love with theblind daughter of his jailer. his love for her, and his great faith, managed tomiraculously heal her from her blindness before his death. Before he was takento his death, he signed a farewell message to her, "from yourvalentine." the phrase has been used on his day ever since. although thelottery for women had been banned by the church, the mid-February holiday in commemorationof st. valentine was stilled used by roman men to seek the affection of women.it became a tradition for the men to give the ones they admired handwrittenmessages of affection, containing valentine's name. Another valentine was an Italianbishop who lived at about the same time, ad 200.he was imprisoned because hesecretly married couples, contrary to the laws of the roman emperor. Somelegends say he was burned at the stake. February 14 was also a roman holiday,held in honor of a goddess. Young men randomly chose the name of a young girlto escort to the festivities. The custom of choosing a sweetheart on this datespread through Europe in the Middle Ages, andthen to the early American colonies. Throughout the ages, people also believedthat birds picked their mates on February 14!

in ad 496 saint pope gelatins I named February 14 as "valentine'sday". Although it's not an official holiday, most Americans observe thisday. the first valentine card grew out of this practice. The first true valentinecard was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of Orleans,to his wife. he was imprisoned in the tower of Londonat the time. cupid, another symbol of the holiday, became associated with itbecause he was the son of venues, the roman god of love and beauty. He isrepresented by the image of a young boy with bow and arrow. Cupid often appearson valentine cards.

Whatever the odd mixture of origins, st. Valentine’s Day is now a day forsweethearts. It is the day that you show your friend or loved one that youcare. You can send candy to someone you think is special. Or you can sendroses, the flower of love.