Valentine's Day 2023: What is its history & why is it celebrated? Why some countries have banned this day?

Valentine's Day 2023:Every year on 14 February, couples all around the world celebrate the day of love and affection, that is, Valentine's day. Though love doesn't need a single day to be 'celebrated' but this is a special day on which people express their affection for each other, exchange gifts and promise a lifetime of company to each other on this day. But have you ever wondered how this day originated? Or whose idea was it to dedicate an entire day to celebrate love and affection?

Let's dive deeper into the ocean of love and find out.

Origins of Valentine's Day in history

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Initially, Valentine's Day was observed as a Christian holiday to honour the Christian martyrnamed Saint Valentine. The day was also known by different names like Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine. Some even say that this day is similar to the Roman festival of Lupercalia, which is also celebrated in mid-February.

The Lupercalia festival is celebrated to welcome spring which included fertility rites and the pairing off of women with men by lottery. But at the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius I forbade the celebration of Lupercalia, which was then later replaced as Valentine's day.

The legend of 'from your Valentine'

But Valentine's day had nothing to do with romance until about the 14th century. Historically, a priest called Valentine was murdered by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus in 270 CE. If legend is to be believed, the priest signed a letter 'from your Valentine'to his jailer's daughter as a farewell note, whom he had befriended and healed from blindness.

Some other accounts also tell us that it was St. Valentine of Terni, who defied the emperor's orders and secretly married couples to Christian soldiers who were forbidden to get married.

Connection of Valentine's day with romantic love

The day came to be associated with romance and love in the 14th and 15th centuries when notions of courtly love flourished apparently by association with the 'love birds' of early spring. In 18th-century England, it grew into an occasion in which couples expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as 'valentines').

Valentine's Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.

Valentine's day celebrations around the world

The day is very popular among young couples in the US as well as in Britain, Canada, and Australia. It is also celebrated in other countries like Argentina, France, Mexico, South Korea and India. In the Philippines, it is the day when people observe their wedding anniversary and mass weddings of hundreds of couples take place.

But in some other countries like Indonesia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the day is banned due to the day's conflicting views with the Islamic culture. Since 2009, certain practices pertaining to Valentine's Day (such as giving flowers, cards, or other gifts suggestive of Valentine's Day) are banned in Iran.

In 2021, the Prosecutor's Office of Qom, Iran, stated that it will prosecute those who disseminate and provide anti-cultural symbols like those of Valentine's Day.