About Valentines Day |
| Event | Valentines Day |
| Location | India |
| Category | Festival |
| Date | Feb 14, 2024 |
| Main Attraction | A season of love and time to woo and pamper your beloved with gifts! |
| Overview/History | Valentine's Day is one festival whose follower's are increasing lately but only a few know the history behind it. The romantic festival, close to the hearts of numerous youngsters across the world has a history that will hardly qualify to be called romantic. The festival was traditionally dedicated to a saint named Valentine and 14th February is believed to be the day of his martyrdom, for the reason that he refused to convert to Roman Paganism on the insistence of roman emperor Claudius 2. It is even said that there were three saints by the name Valentine and as per the Traditionalist Catholics; the day marks the martyrdom of all three of them. The question arises that if this indeed is the case, where did the romantic connotations of the festival gained popularity from? The legends supporting the romantic history of the festival, originating in 14th century maintain that the hero of the festival is Saint Valentine. As per these, before his martyrdom, Saint Valentine by some miracle healed the daughter of the jailor and they both fell in love with each other and Saint Valentine even made her a greeting card before his execution, which explains for the exchange of gifts at the occasion. It is also said that Saint Valentine protested against a rule of Emperor Claudius, which asked men to remain single, by performing marriage rituals for them in secret thus acting as a 'messiah' to them. The Emperor believed that single men are more competent as soldiers. |
| Celebration | Valentine's Day is a festival which gives lovers an occasion to express their love for each other and an opportunity to spend some quality time together. Claims are made time and again that the festival is not just an occasion to cherish romantic and sentimental love but the love in general whose object could be anyone close to your heart. However, the festival still remains popular for being festival of lovers. The popularity of the festival can be estimated from the fact that it is considered an important event from the perspective of business as well. Exchange cards and other gifts, romantic dinners and lunches, watching movies together are of some activities people like to do on this day. The Valentine's Day fever starts few days well in advance. Different days of the week preceding the festival see lovers exchanging roses, chocolates, kiss and hug on the specific days assigned for each of these. Valentine's Day has come under attack in India from several political parties under the pretext of promoting immorality in India and leading to westernization of the Indian Culture. The young couples spotted together are harassed in different parts of the country each year. However, nothing hinders the spirit of the love birds who wait anxiously for the day. |
