Valentine's Day

So, once a year, the day of love rolls around. Valentine's Day. The day when a lot of girls hope for a diamond, and a lot of guys hope they don't make their significant other mad. Naturally, there is a lot of pressure put on everyone to make Valentine's Day memorable and happy, not memorable and depressing. So that makes me ask, what can we do to get back to what Valentine's Day is all about, and to ask further - what exactly is Valentine's Day all about?

Basically, here is what we need to know. St. Valentine as a person was a mystery. Was he a priest who performed marriages after an evil emperor (whom felt single men were better suited serving as soldiers instead of husbands) outlawed young men to marry? Or, was he a Roman man who helped Christians escape brutal prisons filled with torture and abuse who also happened to fall in love with his jailor's daughter? And did he write said jailor's daughter a love letter before his execution that he signed, "Your Valentine"? According to History.com, St. Valentine could have been either of these men, and maybe neither of them. Who knows?

But what we do know is that by the Middle Ages, St. Valentine was the most popular Saint in England and France. Not bad for a mystery man who lived during a time with no social media, cell phones, or viral videos on YouTube or Twitter. 

History.com also states that the first known Valentine still in existence was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans. He wrote it when he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Years later, King Henry V is believed to have commissioned a writer to write a Valentine to Catherine of Valois. How romantic. 

All in all, it seems that the whole point of Valentine's Day is tell your loved one how you feel about them. It isn't about gifts and out-doing one another. It's about taking a day and letting the special someone in your life know that they are, in fact, a special someone to you. 

Happy Valentine's Day!