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Welcome to Animated CyberKisses |
The Story Of St. Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day started in the time of the Roman Empire. Under the rule of
Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular military campaigns.
Claudius the Cruel, as he was known at the time, was having a difficult time getting soldiers to
join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that roman men did not want
to
leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome.
This was when a Christian priest named Valentine came to defend love in the empire.
Valentine began to secretly marry couples despite the emperors orders. When Emperor Claudius
was informed of these ceremonies Valentine was sent to prison where he remained
until his death
on February 14 in the year 270, when Valentine was clubbed, stoned, then beheaded.
History claims that while Valentine was in prison awaiting execution, he fell in love with the
blind daughter of the jailer, Asterius. Through his unswerving faith, he miraculously restored her sight.
He signed a farewell message to her "From Your Valentine", a phrase that still lives
today.
If this is true, that would have been the first Valentine's card. It wasn't until a few hundred years
later when Valentine's Day began to develop as we know it.
At the time Christianity was beginning to take control of Europe. As part of this effort the
Church sought to do away with pagan holidays. Valentine's Day came to replace a mid-February
fertility festival called Lupercalia. In honor of his sacrifice for love, Valentine was made a saint
and Lupercalia renamed in his honor. Until today the tradition of honoring Valentine continues.
The themes of love and fertility taken from the ancient meanings of the holiday have
endured and evolved with our contemporary adaptations of its meanings.
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