Poets, singers, and also politicians have sometimes told us about ‘Touching Love', ‘Tainted Love', that ‘Love that's in the Air'... So, do you really think Love isn't important in our lifes?

What's up with you? How can't it be important if it even has a day for its own(well more than one...). I'm sure you know about Valentine's Day. You would have probably been someone's Valentine! But, maybe you don't know about the origins of Saint Valentine's Day. If you are interested in it, please continue with us...

 The history of Valentine's Day and it's patron Saint is shrouded in mystery: February has been a month of romance during a long time, and St Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges on both Christian and Ancient Roman traditions.

Nowadays, the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine, all of whom were martyred. There's a legend in which Valentine actually sent the first Valentine greeting himself. It is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl while he was in prison. She was his jailor's daughter and she visited him during his confinement. Before his death, he wrote her a letter, which he signed "From your Valentine", an expression that is very used nowadays.

Although there are lots of legends about Valentine, he is always described as a sympathetic, heroic, and over all, a romantic figure. So, by the Middle Ages he became one of the most popular Saints in England and France. Some people believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial that was around 270 A.D, while others claim that the Christian Church may have decided to celebrate it that day in an effort to christianize celebrations of the pagan Lupercalia festival.

In Ancient Rome, February was the official beggining of spring and was considered a time for purification. So, Lupercalia, which began these ideas, was celebrated on February 15th . It was a fertility festival dedicated to the Roman God of agriculture and Romulus & Remus. To begin this festival, members of an order of Roman priests, would gather at the sacred cave where the founders of Rome were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf (Lupa). They would then sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. Then they sliced the goat's hide into strips, dipped into the sacrificial blood and the boys slapped gently women and fields of crops with the goathide strips. But this wasn't fearful, instead the Roman women welcome being touched with the hides because it was believed that the strips would make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to the legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city bachelors would then choose a name out of the urn and become paired for the year with their chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage. Pope Gelasius declared February 14, St. Valentine's Day around 498 A.D. The Roman lottery system for romantic pairing was deemed un-Christian and outlawed. Later, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds' mating season, which added to the idea that Valentine's Day should be a day for romance. The oldest known Valentine still in existence today was a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. It was written in 1415. Years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a Valentine note to Catherine of Valois. In Great Britain, Valentine's Day became popular around the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th century, people exchanged small tokens of affection or handwritten notes. By the end of the century, 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. According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion Valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. Approximately 85% of all Valentines are purchased by women.