BE MY VALENTINE…
Whether it’s Valentine’s Day celebrating romantic couplings or ‘Galentine’s’ celebrating friendships and singledom, Libby Faulkner discovers the history behind this happy occasion
Valentine’s Day is celebrated on the same day every year to pay homage to St Valentine and show love and admiration for your partner. Many stories lie behind the origin of St Valentine, but the most popular tale is that he was a Roman priest, who arranged secret marriages during the third century AD.
It was believed by the then emperor that men who married made bad soldiers so marriage was banned. Valentine felt this unjust and so arranged secret ceremonies to allow the lovers to wed.
Nowadays couples celebrate with a romantic dinner, indulgent gifts of chocolates, roses and cards. Increasingly popular has also been a celebration of ‘singledom’ coining the modern day phrase ‘Galentine’s’, where single girls get together with their friends to celebrate friendship as opposed to romantic couplings.
