valentine's day mini-edition stay tuned for spring edition
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Valentine’s Day: How The Holiday And Its Traditions Started
By: Evyia Makrodimitri
Valentine’s Day is a very popular holiday that almost all of the world celebrates. Although most of the people who celebrate it don’t know how it started and how some of the traditions we have when we make it. This is an article that includes history, traditions and fun facts about this holiday!
St. Valentine (there were more than one St. Valentines, but only one of them started this holiday) started this holiday by standing up to the Emperor Claudius the second when the emperor made it illegal to have his soldiers marry because he thought it was a distraction. In secret, St. Valentine would illegally marry couples until February 14th, 269 A.D, he was caught.
He was murdered at age 43 as a punishment.
Sending Valentine’s cards wasn’t always a
thing that people did to celebrate Valentine’s
day. The first Valentine’s card that was found
dates back to 1415, when a French medieval
duke sent a letter to his wife when he was
imprisoned. He called his wife in the letter
“Valentine” which became the trend of calling the receiver that name.
Even after finding this Valentine’s letter from 1415, Valentine’s day didn’t become a holiday everyone knew about and celebrated. Many friends and lovers sent out cards on Valentine’s day in the 17th century but 1840 was when there were mass-produced Valentine cards sent out. These cards were produced by Esther A. Howland. 55% of America celebrate this holiday and we estimate that Americans spend 19.6 billion dollars on Valentine’s day related products. The first heart shaped candies were produced in 1861. They were chocolates. 1866 is when messages were printed onto candies. In many Latin-American countries, instead of romance, Valentine’s day is celebrated as a day to show gratitude to friends.