Valentine's Day 2023

Valentine’s Day is celebrated annually on 14th February, most notably for marking a day of love and romance in relationships, friendships, and admiration across the world. People give cards, chocolates, and other tokens of affection to each other to mark this occasion.

Valentine’s Day is believed to have originated in 496 AD and has been celebrated for centuries with the official Valentine’s Day being recognized from the 14th century onwards. There is a lot of speculation about the original story of Valentine’s Day, with the most popular being based around one of the three St. Valentine’s that are recognised by the Catholic Church.

Legend says that one of the St. Valentine’s served as a priest in Rome during the third century, a time in which Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men because he thought that single men made better soldiers. Valentine defied Claudius and performed marriage ceremonies for lovers in secret. However, when Claudius discovered what Valentine was doing, he put him to death and Valentine died a martyr. Despite the uncertainty surrounding the origin of Valentine’s Day, the Catholic Church declared Valentine a Roman Martyrology, being martyred on February 14th.

Another story that Valentine’s Day derived from is that of the man who was killed for liberating Christians from Roman prisons. During his confinement, he is believed to have fallen in love with his jailers daughter and wrote a letter to her before he died, signing it ‘your Valentine’. This phrase is used in Valentine’s Day cards across the world today, especially when those who sent the card want to remain anonymous to the recipient.

Saint Valentine became known as the ‘Patron Saint of Lovers’ and Valentine’s Day eventually replaced the pagan celebration of Lupercalia on February 15th that promoted health and fertility.

Ever since, Valentine’s Day has been celebrated around the world and increased in popularity especially during the Middle Ages when writers such as Chaucer romanticised the day by associating it with connotations of love and the signs of early spring. In later years, writings about love and Valentine’s Day were included in many writings such as Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the early 1600s and in the 1784 Gammer Gurton’s Garland which includes the universally known Valentine’s Day poem, beginning with “the rose is red, the violet’s blue”.

Many centuries later we still celebrate Valentine’s Day each year and use it as an opportunity to treat loved one’s and show them how much they mean to us through sending cards and gifts. It is estimated that over 25 million Valentine’s Day cards are sent every year in the UK, showing the progression of this day across many centuries.

Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us here at Cardiff Bus!