Valentine

Have you ever wondered what lies beneath the true meaning of Valentine?

Valentine:
1. a card or message, usually amatory or sentimental but sometimes satirical or comical, or a token or gift sent by one person to another on Valentine Day, sometimes anonymously.
2. a sweetheart chosen or greeted on this day.
3. a written or other artistic work, message, token, etc., expressing affection for something or someone
4. Saint, died a.d. c270, Christian martyr at Rome.
5. Also, Valentinus. pope a.d. 827.
6. a male given name: from a Latin word meaning “strong.”

Interestingly, this word was named after this person call Saint Valentine! Read on...

Lovers and the greeting card industry may have Geoffrey Chaucer to thank for the holiday that warms the coldest month. Although reference books abound with mentions of Roman festivals from which Valentine's Day may derive, Jack B. Oruch has shown that no evidence supports these connections and that Chaucer was probably the first to link the saint's day with the custom of choosing sweethearts. No such link has been found before the writings of Chaucer and several literary contemporaries who also mention it, but after them the association becomes widespread. It seems likely that Chaucer, the most imaginative of the group, invented it. The fullest and perhaps earliest description of the Valentine's Day tradition occurs in Chaucer's Parlement of Foules, composed around 1380, which takes place "on Seynt Valentynes day,/Whan every foul cometh there to chese [choose] his make [mate]."

Great, I learnt something. And no, we're not planning to celebrate and grace Valentine's Day lavishly. It's just not our style, or probably just me cuz at least Dan suggested meeting up for dinner tomorrow. I hope he doesn't do anything foolish. Ha. :)