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St. Valentine's Day
St. Valentine's Day

Video: St. Valentine's Day

Video: St. Valentine's Day
Video: Saint Valentine's Day Animated History 2024, March
Anonim

Where did the custom of celebrating Valentine's Day come from?

Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day

The origins of this beautiful holiday, when the world is ruled by love, should be sought in the history of the ancient Roman Empire. Scientists say that it was at this time that the Roman New Year began, which coincides with the beginning of spring for the Romans. Like all people, the Romans loved to have fun and celebrated the onset of the New Year with lavish feasts, performances and festivities. A significant place in the celebration of the Roman New Year was given to New Year's fortune-telling. And not only romantically inclined young ladies indulged in this business, but also quite serious, businesslike, as they say now, business woman. After all, the results of New Year's fortune-telling determined all the success (or failure) of the coming year - harvest, career, financial well-being - how can you really take all this lightly! If our girls guess fortune-telling on Christmastide, then in Europe the tradition of fortune-telling in the name of the betrothed on the 14th of February, on Valentine's Day, remains an echo of the ancient custom.

Around the same time, the ancient world celebrated Panurgy - ritual games in honor of the god Pan (in the Roman tradition - Faun) - the patron saint of herds, forests, fields and their fertility. Pan is a merry fellow and a rake, plays the flute beautifully and always pursues the nymphs with his love.

Here, on the eve of spring, Roman matrons sacrificed and honored Juno - the goddess of motherhood, marriage, women and female productive forces. Juno was associated with the Faun as the goddess of fertility.

All of the above can be considered a pagan contribution to the tradition of celebrating Valentine's Day. Now it's time to get acquainted with the origins of the legends of the Christian component of your favorite holiday, which is named after St. Valentine. We'll talk about this priest now.

Who is Saint Valentine?

Born in the III century. n. NS. in Terni (Roman Empire)

Valentine - clergyman, bishop of Terni.

He was also engaged in private medical practice and scientific research.

Dr. Valentine has always been concerned that the medicines he prescribed to patients tasted good.

He mixed bitter potions with wine, milk or honey to add a delicious taste to the medicines.

He washed his wounds with wine and used herbs to relieve pain.

During the campaign of persecution of the Emperor Julius Claudius II against Christians, he was caught and sent to prison. Decapitated February 14, 269

Buried in Rome (according to other sources, part of the relics of St. Valentine is in the city of Terni and in the Church of St. Anthony in Madrid).

Knowledgeable people say that he was handsome, kind and sympathetic, and also pretty young.

Valentine's Day - the holiday of lovers - is celebrated on February 14 in Europe since the 13th century. In the USA - since 1777 In Russia, somewhere in the early 1990s.

Almost nothing is known about the life of the real Christian Valentine, in fact, the meager facts of the tragic biography are cut out of conflicting legends. For example, there are rumors that Bishop Terni, being a very young man, showed special affection for young lovers - he helped write letters with declarations of love, reconciled those who quarreled, gave flowers to young spouses. His arrest was allegedly caused by the fact that the Roman emperor Julius Claudius II did not allow the soldiers of the imperial legions to fall in love and marry, and Valentine secretly crowned the legionaries. When Valentine was in prison, he, again according to unverified information, fell in love with the blind daughter of his executioner - and healed her. They say, however, that the case could have been like this: the overseer asked Valentine to heal his daughter, and she already fell in love with the disgraced priest, regained her sight. Before the execution, he left her a farewell note and signed:"

Now there is no point in arguing about how, in fact, everything happened, but one thing is certain - the young Christian priest really died in the name of the brightest and most beautiful feeling, in the name of Love. And this Love was released to him surprisingly much for one of his short lives - love for God, love for a beautiful girl, love for people in general, whom he helped both as a priest and as a doctor, and as just a wonderful person with a huge, doing good soul …

About holiday traditions:

It is not surprising that Valentine was not forgotten and was chosen as the patron saint of All Lovers. As a Christian martyr who suffered for the faith, he was canonized by the Catholic Church. In Western Europe, Valentine's Day has been celebrated since the 13th century, in the USA since 1777.

And in Russia there was one more holiday, although Russia had its own holiday of lovers. It was celebrated on the eighth of July and was associated with the legendary love story of Peter and Fevronia.

On Valentine's Day, it is customary to send messages to dear people with declarations of love, and you should not sign valentines, you should not leave the return address, any coordinates of the sender, everything should be mysterious: the traditions of the holiday.

The British record for the number of valentines sent in 1988 was 16 million. In the United States in the same year on this day, they bought 24 thousand roses per minute. The count of e-mails on the "Internet" goes on February 14 in the millions.

In England, after February 14, private detectives are bombarded with orders to establish the identity of senders. The service is expensive - 500 pounds, but they pay: no one wants to waste their happiness. And in England there was once a belief that the first man who met a girl on February 14 should become her Valentine, whether she wanted it or not. But the young ladies found a way out of their predicament: on that day they walked with their eyes closed.

True, the same British on Valentine's Day send love messages not only to friends and acquaintances, but also to their pets. Most beloved across the Channel are dogs and horses.

Red roses are rightfully considered the symbol of Valentine's Day. It is customary to give them on Valentine's Day. The roots of this tradition are in ancient paganism. The goddess of love Aphrodite, hurrying to her beloved, stepped on a bush of white roses, injured her leg and stained the roses with her blood. Since then, red roses have been a symbol of love and passion.

All ritual gifts for Valentine's Day must be heart-shaped. In addition to postcards, it can be sweets, balloons, pads, etc. It is even rumored that one genius inventor Valentin (a familiar name) invented sweet chocolates of various shapes. Were it not for him, we would still eat and drink chocolate liquid, hot and bitter. At the suggestion of Valentine, chocolate has become one of the most popular Valentine's gifts. Delicious and healthy for the teeth.

By the way, on February 14, Japanese women are simply obliged to present their beloved and familiar men with chocolate. Each Japanese woman will definitely lay out $ 200-300 for gifts to the second half and colleagues at work. And the Japanese on this day compete, who is cooler in terms of the number of donated sweets.

On this day, it is appropriate to confess what has long been hidden in the heart. Some argue that on this day a woman can approach her dear man and politely ask him to marry her. If he is not ready for such a decisive step, then he must thank for the honor shown and give the woman a silk dress. This day is the perfect time for the engagement ceremony (not to be confused with marriage!) And the exchange of wedding rings.

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