|
The Meaning Of Love's Day
Valentines Day is named after Saint Valentine, who
was beheaded by Emporer Claudius in 270 A.D. He was
killed for disobeying the emporers laws. Which
laws? The ones that said that married soldiers were
useless in battle, so no soldier could be married.
But St. Valentine married them in secret. Right
before he was executed he sent a final message to
his true love that said from your Valentine, and
the phrase has been used ever since...though the
first real Valentine as we would know it was not
sent until 1415 by The Duke Of Orleans to his wife
while he was imprisoned in the London Tower,
But let's go back a little further to when
Valentines became a holiday. It began in the 5th
century. For 800 years before that the Romans
celebrated young mens passage into adult hood in
mid winter. The young men would pick teenage girls
names from a box and the girl they chose would be
their sexual partner for the remainder of the year.
The Catholic Church always looking for ways to
replace the pagan rituals came up with Valentines
Day and instead of choosing a partner, both men and
women chose the names of a saint from the box and
tried to emulate that saint for the remainder of
the year.
|