History of Valentine's day

People around the world celebrates Valentine's day on the 14th of February. Valentines day Valentine's day is the day when you can express the love to your partner or to your most love ones. But it's not for lovers only. You can also express your affection to your friends and relatives. In a modern way, most people express their love with gifts, messages of love, affection, cards, giving chocolates and having a meal at a restaurant.

Origins
The word "Valentine" comes from a Latin that means "strength". In the late 5th century "Pope Gelasius" became the first person to celebrate Valentine's day. Lupercalia which is also known as Lupercal, was a festival of Ancient Rome on 15th to clean the city, promoting health. This festival started with an sacrifice animal such as goats and a dog. Then their foreheads were touched with a bloody knife, then the blood was wiped clean with a wool that's already dipped in milk. The creepiest part about this ritual is that this ritual needs two young men that laughs.

Then the young men will run from Palatine Hill to Roman Forum, then continued whipping women with strips of hide from the animal that they have sacrificed, which they thought will increase the chances of purifying their bodies. Pope Gelasius state that Febuary 14th will be date when Valentine's day, this is considered as an effort to replace a Pagan Feast of Lupercalia.

Medieval Traditions
In the middle ages, young men and women will draw random names to pick their valentine's, they would then wear this name on their sleeves for one week. Have you ever thought why red, white, and pink are the official color for Valentine's day? Well red means love and the red rose was the favorite flower of Venus, the Roman Goddess of love. Pink can mean being close with friends and family on Valentine's day. White can mean innocence and purity.

Literary Influence 
In the 1830s, Geoffrey Chaucer's 700-line poem was officially credited to be the first work related to Valentine's day with romantic love. The poem is called "The Parliament of Fowls" which is also known as "The Parlement of Foules". This poem has the form of a dream vision of the narrator. William Shakespeares is also a poet who is famous for his love quotes. He also mentions Saint Valentine's day to times in his play.

Commercialization
You might be wondering why we need to give cards, chocolates, flowers on Valentine's day. Well it started on the early 1600s when the Aztecs believed that the bitter drink made out of cacao would.bring happiness and live because it contains aphrodisiac properties.It also represents sweetness from love and can also mean comfort and luxury. The cards and gifts that we give can reflect our feelings, thoughts, and affection towards our partners or friends. Flowers are traditionally associated with love and passion.

Global Culture
Each year on Valentine's day Americans usually gift their families, friends with gifts, cards and affection, but what about other countries? In Finland, instead of Valentine's day they celebrates "" which translates to "Friendship day". Instead of giving displays of love and affections, they offer their friends and love ones small presents to let them know how much they valued. In Japan, Chocolate is the best way to celebrate Valentine's day in Japan. If you got "honmei choco" (true love chocolate), someone really likes you, but if your're a friend or relative, you will get "giri choco" (obligatory chocolate). In Korea, women gift their lover with chocolates, their lover will respond in kind the next month. People with no lover is also given their own day on 14 april, known as "Black day". They will celebrate their single status with a bowl of "jajangmyeon" noodles with black bean noodles.

Conclusion
So in conclusion, Valentine's day has a lot history behind it. It is the only time in a year where we can show our love, affection, passion to our love ones with gifts, showing how much we appreciated them. Valentine's day can be different in other countries. Everyone has their own way to show their love to their partners. Not only people with partners can celebrate it. Everyone can celebrate it with their friends or relatives.

Refrences
https://college.unc.edu/2020/02/chaucer-valentines/

https://www.today.com/life/holidays/valentines-day-traditions-around-the-world-rcna64522

https://www.nomadiccamel.com/blogs/news/why-chocolate-and-roses-are-popular-as-valentines-day-gift#:~:text=History%20and%20significance%20of%20Chocolate,would%20bring%20happiness%20and%20love.

https://nosweatshakespeare.com/blog/shakespeare-st-valentines-day/#:~:text=But%20Shakespeare%20could%20not%20have,and%20shortly%20before%20her%20suicide.

http://www.librarius.com/parliamentfs.htm