Business English & more: VALENTINE´S DAY/ SAN VALENTÍN: DÍA DE LOS ENAMORADOS

Thursday, February 14, 2019

VALENTINE´S DAY/ SAN VALENTÍN: DÍA DE LOS ENAMORADOS

VALENTINE´S DAY

Valentine's Day is also known as Saint Valentine's Day or

the Feast of Saint Valentine. This day, observed in many

parts of the world, is an occasion when couples celebrate

their love by exchanging cards, chocolate, flowers and other

gifts.

Just who Saint Valentine was, or why this day was so

named, is not entirely clear. There was more than one early

Christian martyr and saint by the name of Valentine. Two

of them, Saint Valentine of Terni and Saint Valentine of

Rome, were executed on 14 February but in different years

(in the 3rd and 5th centuries AD respectively). They were

also both buried on the Via Flaminia outside Rome but at

different locations. The Christian Church honours Saint

Valentine on 14 February, though it is not known which

Valentine. Indeed, the Roman Catholic Church itself states

that: "apart from his name, nothing is known of Saint

Valentine except that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on

February 14."

A number of stories sprang up in subsequent years linking

Valentine with romantic love, but little is known about the

historical facts. The first recorded association of St

Valentine's Day with love was in 1381 by the medieval

English poet Geoffrey Chaucer, in his poem Parliament of

Foules honouring the marriage between King Richard II of

England and Anne of Bohemia. Over the centuries, the

practice developed first of writing Valentine poems to loved

ones on 14 February then of giving and ultimately sending

Valentine cards. Today, people also offer flowers,

chocolates and other gifts.

Some traditions suggest that Valentine cards and gifts

should be sent anonymously, with the recipient being left to

guess of whose love she or he is the object.