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ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE ✦ Celebrating St. Valentine’s Day
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t’s that time of year that those of a romantic persuasion hold very close to their hearts. St. Valentine’s Day is a time to celebrate love, often to those closest to us but also to those admired from afar. It’s a day synonymous with gifts, flowers, chocolates, romantic candle lit dinners, greeting cards and, increasingly nowadays, heart shaped emojis!
However, there is no concrete agreement on the actual origins of the occasion with several conflicting theories abound. Some believe it originated in Roman times when Emperor Claudius II reportedly had two separate men named Valentine beheaded on the day of February 14th in two separate years and it is believed the Catholic Church decided to honour the men as martyrs.
Valentine’s Day is now a huge commercial occasion with close to an estimated US$24 billion spent around the world last year. It is also celebrated with different customs in different cultures and often on dates other than February 14th.
Others believe it was Pope Gelasius I who, in the 5th century, declared Valentine’s Day a replacement for the Roman festival of Lupercalia, which took place on February 13-15.
