Where to start! Without referencing first, I must comment on how I first knew or learned about Valentine’s Day in England. I can vividly recall receiving Valentine Day cards being left on my Primary Level (Kindergarten) desk in Primary School. The card might have a few comments but the cards were always unsigned, and it was so much fun to try and guess as to who sent the card to you! It was fun!
Upon researching the history of Valentine’s Day, we can readily read how it encompassed Christian conversion, to mid February being the start of bird’s mating season thus commemorating love, and there is still in existence a poem written ” written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. (The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois. ” Courtesy of History.com Editors.”
There are quite a few Christian martyrs being named Valentine, and according to legend, in order “to remind these men of their vows and God’s love, Saint Valentine is said to have cut hearts from parchment”, giving them to these soldiers and persecuted Christians, a possible origin of the widespread use of hearts on Saint Valentine’s Day.[43] (Courtesy Wikipedia – Frank Staff, The Valentine & Its Origins, 1969, Frederick A. Praeger.)
Per “Real Simple” reservations are hard to obtain at restaurants on Valentine’s Day and as an aside restaurants aren’t too happy either as people book a table for 2 and not 10!
There are also a few fun facts to be found also…
