Along with birthdays, Christmas and Mother's Day, Valentine's Day is one of the major events for the greetings card industry. Millions of cards are bought and sent, and there is a massive upsurge in the sale of out-of-season (and therefore wildly overpriced ) red roses to accompany declarations of undying love.

THE ORIGINS OF THE FESTIVAL:
Valentine was one of the earlier Christian saints. He was a priest in ancient Rome and was martyred for his faith in 270 AD. He incurred the wrath of the Emperor Claudius by helping young lovers to marry against his wishes and ended up being beheaded for his troubles. Before his execution, Valentine had fallen in love with his jailer's daughter and signed his final note to her "From Your Valentine", a phrase that has lasted through the centuries.

Mid February was traditionally the time of Lupercalia, a pagan festival to the god of fertility and a celebration of sensual pleasure, a time to meet and court a prospective mate. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius outlawed the pagan festival but had the sense to replace it with a a similar celebration, although one deemed morally suitable. He needed a "lovers" saint to replace the pagan deity Lupercus and so the martyred Bishop Valentine was chosen as the patron saint of the new Christian festival.

Things didn't turn out quite as the Pope hoped. The pagan festival did indeed die out, but he was disappointed in his wish that people would emulate the lives of the saints. Instead they latched onto the more romantic aspects of Saint Valentine's religious life. While not immediately as popular as the more decadent pagan festival, the festival celebrating true love continued and became known as Valentine's Day.

Valentine is one of the more popular saints in the calendar and everyone knows when Valentine's Day is - but even so, officially his feast was dropped from the liturgical calendar in 1969.

ST. VALENTINE'S DAY TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS:
Valentine cards as we know them have been sent since Victorian times. Originally hand-made and decorated with pictures of hearts, flowers, birds and LOTS of lace, they are traditionally sent anonymously, even going so far as to disguise handwriting or posting in another town (to avoid giving a clue in the postmark!)
The modern Valentine card is big business and shops selling greetings cards will start stocking up soon after Christmas. There is still a large market for the flowery, sentimental card, but many modern cards tend to the "cute" style and there is always a market for the humorous insult (especially if you don't have to identify yourself!)

St. Valentine's Day is traditionally the day on which the birds are supposed to choose their mate (which makes it a bit of a non-event for those species which pair for life!)