Roses, chocolates, and beautiful heart-shaped doilies are usually the images that come to mind when we think of Valentine’s Day. Red hearts and heartfelt cards decorate every store, and all your coupled-up friends have a little spring in their step.
Every year, the ancient Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia from Feb. 13-15. This pagan fertility festival celebrated an ancient god who protected the people from wolves. At the beginning of the celebration, the men would sacrifice a goat and a dog, then whip the women with the hides of those animals. Romantic, no?
During this naked, drunken party, the town’s young women would get in line and wait for the men to hit them. Yep, that’s right. They wanted to be hit because they believed it would make them fertile.After a good time of being whipped with dead animals, the ladies then had a chance to be included in a matchmaking lottery. The men drew names and then were “coupled” with that woman for the night.
Each year, anticipation builds in the days before Valentine’s Day as Baci chocolates created by the famous Italian chocolate maker, Perugina, are gifted. It’s a lot of fun to open up the wrapper and look for the romantic phrase printed inside. It also help add to the theme of the day that ‘baci’ is the Italian word for kisses.
If you’re planning on creating a special meal for the one you love, then don’t forget to buy some delicious Prosciutto di San Daniele for the ultimate Italian treat.
The significance of this day in contemporary times
today is celebrated in a variety of ways. While it is celebrated in most countries, different cultures have developed their own traditions around this day.
In some parts of the world, Valentine’s Day is observed as a day for expressing love between family members and friends, rather than that of romantic couples. Some traditions include leaving lollies and gifts for children and others include acts of appreciation between friends.
It is likely that in today’s time’s social media has made Valentine’s Day more viral and more toxic, though the framework was already there. It’s not so much that social media really changed the scrutiny that was already at the core of this day, it just created a whole new possibility for performing the act of Valentine’s Day.
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Of course, there were many other holy days, or holidays, providing occasions for celebration. Christmas, Easter and Pentecost (which celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples after Christ’s ascension) were the principal religious periods – balancing penitential fasting and solemnity with time away from work, merriment and gift giving. And the outdoor revels of early May and summer also played an important role in people’s lives, giving rise to secular rituals such as “Maying” (gathering blossoms and dancing around the Maypole, etc),
By the end of the Middle Ages, the meaning of Valentine’s Day had expanded to incorporate human lovers expressing their feelings in hope of attracting or reaffirming a mate. In February 1477, one would-be lover, Margery Brews, sent the oldest-known “Valentine” in the English language to John Paston, referring to him as her “right welbelouyd Voluntyn”. At the time Brews’s parents were negotiating her marriage to Paston, a member of the Norfolk gentry, but he was not satisfied with the size of the dowry offered by her father.
The couple married shortly after, so Margery’s heartfelt letters clearly appealed to her beloved. While we have to wait until the Tudor period to witness the now familiar concept of bestowing material gifts on one’s Valentine, it is Margery’s Valentine that best captures the essence of how the saint’s day transformed from being a lesser-known feast on the medieval liturgical calendar to one of the most important days of the year for hopeful and hopeless romantics, regardless of religion.
Valentine’s Day famous flowers
Primrose are beautiful flowers that are a symbol of eternal love and devotion. Giving primrose will say that you can’t live without your partner hence is perfect to gift to your partner.
These iconic flowers need no introduction. Any person in love has given a rose to their beloved once in their life. They symbolise pure love, romance, beauty and perfection and are also known as lover’s roses.
Primrose are beautiful flowers that are a symbol of eternal love and devotion. Giving primrose will say that you can’t live without your partner hence is perfect to gift to your partner.
Gardenias are gorgeous flowers that are full of fragrance. The flowers symbolise purity, joy and also secret love. Giving Gardenia implies deep and old-fashioned love. A man who gifts Gardenia’s to his beloved likely has a long history with her as they are expensive and sold as single blooms. You can also give these to your crush and declare your love for them.
These gorgeous flowers are rare blossoms and represent rare and delicate beauty. Other significances are love, luxury, strength. Giving Orchids means that you admire the feminity and beauty of your partner. Pink orchids, in particular, mean pure affection and cattleya orchids represents mature charm