Valentine's Day.... Was this something conjured up... (more)...?

...by the greeting card companys, candy companys, jewelry industry, floral shops, and restaurant industry to get more people to buy their products?

Valentine%26#039;s Day.... Was this something conjured up... (more)...?
I%26#039;m not sure if Valentines day was %26quot;conjured up%26quot; by these companies, but as with all holidays they are certainly and vigorously perpetuated by these companies and individuals in their search of the almighty (not) dollar. For specific information regarding the origin of Valentines day visit the web-page below.
Reply:No they took it to the extreme! Its named supposedly after this man, possibly a monk or a priest, called Valentine, a Roman emperor banned marruage because he thought soldiers weren%26#039;t a s good once they were married. So Valentine would marry people in secret!
Reply:History of Valentine%26#039;s Day





Every year in the middle of February, we celebrate a patron, St.


Valentine. The history


behind Valentine%26#039;s Day still remains somewhat mysterious. There are a


few variations on


how it all started. Most point to the events surrounding a celebration


called %26quot;Lupercalia%26quot; in


honor of the God Lupercus.It is said, this celebration had its origins


as a pagan tradition in


the third century. During this time many hungry wolves stalked outside


of Rome attacking


sheep. Legend has it that the God, Lupercus, watched over the


shepherds and their flocks,


keeping them safe from wolves. In February the ancient Romans


celebrated the feast


named Lupercalia in honor of Lupercus.





During Lupercalia, there was a festival of eroticism that honored Juno


Februata, the


Goddess of feverish love. It was a festival of sensual pleasure and a


time to meet and court


a prospective mate. During the festival the names of young maidens


were placed into a


container and drawn at random by adolescent men and would then be


partners for


feasting and sexual game playing for the duration of the festival with


the girl whom he


chose. Sometimes the pairing lasted an entire year, and often, they


would fall in love and


would later marry. This celebration continued even after wolves were


eliminated.





Seen as a problem to Rome as Christianity grew in influence, priests


attempted to


%26quot;christianize%26quot; old secular practices. Pope Gelasius outlawed the pagan


festival. He needed


a %26quot;lovers%26quot; saint to replace the pagan deity Lupercus. Valentine, a


bishop who had been


martyred some two hundred years earlier was chosen. To transform the


ancient pagan


celebration the church changed the name to St. Valentine%26#039;s Day.


Priests substituted the


drawing of Saints names for the names of the girls. On St. Valentine%26#039;s


Day the priest placed


saint%26#039;s names into an urn. Boys and girls then drew a name. In the


following year, the


youth was expected to emulate the life of the saint whose name he had


drawn. By the


fourteenth century, girl%26#039;s names were once again drawn. In the


sixteenth century an


attempt to once again substitute the name of saints for girls failed.


Despite the best


efforts of the Church, St. Valentine%26#039;s Day continued to echo


Lupercalia.





Evidently, there were seven men named Valentine who were honored with


feasts on


February 14th. One of these men named Valentine was a priest under the


reign of


Emperor Claudius II. This was around when the heyday of Roman Empire


had almost come


to an end. Lack of quality administrators led to frequent civil


strife. Learning declined,


taxation increased, and trade slumped to a low, precarious level. The


Emperor was


unsuccessfully trying to recruit men to serve as soldiers for his


wars. The men preferred to


remain at home with their wives, families and sweethearts rather than


to fight in foreign


lands.





Emperor Claudius II became angry and forbade priests to perform new


marriages.


Valentine, feeling that this law was unjust ignored the decree from


the Emperor that


forbade all marriages and betrothals. Valentine and Saint Marius aided


the Christian


martyrs and secretly married couples. After being caught in the act,


he was apprehended


and brought before Rome. Valentine was condemned, thrown in prison and


sentenced to


death.





The emperor, impressed with the young priest%26#039;s dignity and conviction,


attempted to


convert him to the Roman Gods, to save him from certain execution.


Valentine refused to


recognize Roman Gods and even attempted to convert the emperor,


knowing the


consequences fully. On February 24, 270, Valentine was executed.





While imprisoned, Valentine cured a girl of her blindness. This girl


was the jailer%26#039;s


daughter. The girl fell madly in love with Valentine, but could not


save him. On the eve of


his execution, Valentine managed to slip a parting message to the


girl, with the help of


her father, the jailer. The note, of course, was signed %26quot;From your


Valentine.%26quot; After his


execution by being clubbed to death and beheaded, his friends


retrieved his body and it


was buried in a churchyard in Rome.
Reply:No its was cuz of saint vatentine and the fact that he fell in love with the jailors daughter just before his execution (I think)


xx
Reply:Shhhhhhhhh Trade secret...
Reply:not originally, however nowadays, it could very well be.
Reply:No. It is actually a day to commemorate a saint... St Valentine... google it!



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