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Gifts wrapped in brown craft paper, tied with twine with bows and labels, string, scissors, coil of twine on craft paper background. Love, Valentine’s, mother’s, women’s day, romantic template

How did Valentine’s Day develop? It wasn’t until more than 200 years later that 14 February was proclaimed St Valentine’s Day. By this time Rome had become Christian and the Catholic Church was determined to stamp out any remaining paganism. A pagan fertility ritual was held in February each year and the Pope abolished this festival and proclaimed 14 February Saint Valentine’s Day, thus establishing this feast day on the Catholic Calendar of Saints. The poet Chaucer in the Middle Ages was the first to link St Valentine with romantic love. This was the beginning of the tradition of courtly love, a ritual of expressing love and admiration, usually in secret. This custom spread throughout Europe and stories grew about a High Court of Love where female judges would rule on issues related to love on 14 February each year. Historians believe that these meetings were in fact gatherings where people read love poetry and played games of flirtation.

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Gifts and envelopes, colored and wrapped in brown craft paper, tied with twine with bows and labels, hearts and coil of twine on craft paper background. Valentine’s day romantic template

Letters Addressed to ‘Juliet’. Every year, thousands of romantics send letters addressed to Verona, Italy to “Juliet,” the subject of the timeless romantic tragedy, “Romeo and Juliet.” The city marks the location of the Shakespearean tale, and the letters that reach the city are dutifully answered by a team of volunteers from the Juliet Club. Each year, on Valentine’s Day, the club awards the «Cara Giulietta» («Dear Juliet») prize to the author of the most touching love letter.

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Gifts and envelopes, colored and wrapped in brown craft paper, tied with twine with bows and labels, hearts and coil of twine on craft paper background. Valentine’s day romantic template

‘Vinegar Valentines’ Discouraged Suitors. During the Victoria Era, those who didn’t want the attention of certain suitors would anonymously send “vinegar valentines.» According to Smithsonian, these cards, also called penny dreadfuls, were the antithesis of customary valentines, comically insulting and rejecting unwanted admirers. They were later used to target suffragettes in the late 19th and early 20th century.

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Gifts and envelope wrapped in brown craft paper, tied with twine with bows and labels, hearts and coil of twine on craft paper background. Love, Valentine’s, mother’s, women’s day, romantic concept

Gifts and envelope wrapped in brown craft paper, tied with twine with bows and labels, hearts and coil of twine on craft paper background. Love, Valentine’s, mother’s, women’s day, romantic concept

Typical Valentine’s Day Greetings In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and by 1900 printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one’s feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine’s Day greetings. Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as “scrap.” Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 145 million Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year (more cards are sent at Christmas). Women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.

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White gift box wrapped in brown craft paper, tied with twine with a bow and label in a red heart form on craft paper background. Love, Valentine’s, mother’s, women’s day, relations, romantic concept

White gift box wrapped in brown craft paper, tied with twine with a bow and label in a red heart form on craft paper background. Love, Valentine’s, mother’s, women’s day, relations, romantic concept

Who was St Valentine? The day gets its name from a famous saint, but there are several stories of who he was. The popular belief about St Valentine is that he was a priest from Rome in the third century AD. Emperor Claudius II had banned marriage because he thought married men were bad soldiers. Valentine felt this was unfair, so he broke the rules and arranged marriages in secret. When Claudius found out, Valentine was thrown in jail and sentenced to death. There, he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and when he was taken to be killed on 14 February he sent her a love letter signed «from your Valentine».

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White gift box, gift and envelope wrapped in brown craft paper, tied with twine with a bow and labels with red paper hearts. Love, Valentine’s, mother’s, women’s day, relations, romantic template

White gift box, gift and envelope wrapped in brown craft paper, tied with twine with a bow and labels with red paper hearts. Love, Valentine’s, mother’s, women’s day, relations, romantic template

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White gift box, gift and envelope wrapped in brown craft paper, tied with twine with bows and labels with red paper hearts. Love, Valentine’s, mother’s, women’s day, relations, romantic template

White gift box, gift and envelope wrapped in brown craft paper, tied with twine with bows and labels with red paper hearts. Love, Valentine’s, mother’s, women’s day, relations, romantic template

What is Valentine’s Day in Contemporary Times? While Valentine’s Day is celebrated in most countries, different cultures have developed their own traditions for this festival. In some parts of the world Valentine’s Day is observed as a day for expressing love between family members and friends, rather than that of romantic couples. Some traditions include leaving lollies and gifts for children and others include acts of appreciation between friends. Valentine’s Day is most commonly associated with romantic love, with millions of Valentine’s Day cards being exchanged each year. Gifts of flowers or a single red rose are sent with romantic messages to loved ones and couples spend special time together. Many couples choose to celebrate Valentine’s Day with dinner, a picnic or special home-cooked meal. Many restaurants offer Valentine’s Day dinner promotions and food is often presented with symbols of love like hearts and flowers. Another popular Valentine’s Day activity is to indulge in a luxury hotel stay in a beautiful location, allowing a couple to get away from it all and enjoy some quality time together. Marriage proposals are also popular on Valentine’s Day, and it is often chosen as the perfect day to express their love and commitment. Some marriage proposals are delivered very creatively, such as after climbing to the top of a mountain, or posting a message on a billboard. Whatever the method, marriage proposals made on Valentine’s Day are generally romantic and memorable.

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Composition from several red paper hearts on white background isolated. Love, Valentine’s, mother’s, women’s day, relations, wedding, romantic offer, card, invitation, template copy space

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Composition from several red paper hearts on white background isolated. Love, Valentine’s, mother’s, women’s day, relations, wedding, romantic banner, flyer, poster template copy space

At the time of Valentine’s life, many Romans were converting to Christianity, but the Emperor Claudius II was a pagan and created strict laws about what Christians were allowed to do. Claudius believed that Roman soldiers should be completely devoted to Rome and therefore passed a law preventing them from marrying. St Valentine began to marry these soldiers in secret Christian ceremonies and this was the beginning of his reputation for believing in the importance of love.

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White gift box with red label in a heart form, gift wrapped in brown craft paper, tied with twine with a bow, envelope from craft paper with red heart, several red paper hearts on white background

Origins of Valentine’s Day: A Pagan Festival in February While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial–which probably occurred around A.D. 270–others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat’s hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.

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