Why do we celebrate Valentines Day?

It is wonderful to have one day a year where we can focus on love and what that means to us.

There are different explanations about the source of Valentine’s Day. It contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition.

My favourite is that there are three Catholic martyrs called Valentine, the first was a priest in Rome in the 3rd century. When Emperor Claudius 11 decided that single men made better soldiers than ones with children and wives he outlawed Marriage for young men. Valentine defied him and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. For his pains, he was executed on February 14th. Claudius 11 also beheaded another Valentine a few years later on Feb 14th for different reasons.

Another connection is that from Feb. 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia. The men sacrificed a goat and a dog, then whipped women with the hides of the animals they had just slain.

The Roman romantics “were drunk. They were naked,” says Noel Lenski, a historian at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Young women would actually line up for the men to hit them, Lenski says. They believed this would make them fertile.

The brutal fete included a matchmaking lottery, in which young men drew the names of women from a jar. The couple would then be, um, coupled up for the duration of the festival — or longer, if the match was right.

As the years went on, the holiday grew sweeter. Chaucer and Shakespeare romanticised it in their work, and it gained popularity throughout Britain and the rest of Europe. Handmade paper cards became the tokens-du-jour in the Middle Ages.

Eventually, the tradition made its way to America. The industrial revolution ushered in factory-made cards in the 19th century. And in 1913, Hallmark Cards of Kansas City began mass producing Valentines. February has not been the same since.

Today, the holiday is big business: According to market research firm IBIS World, Valentine’s Day sales reached $17.6 billion last year; this year’s sales are expected to total $18.6 billion.

How are you feeling about Valentine’s Day?

Are you feeling really excited, connected and truly in love with your partner?
If so: Wonderful!

If not; what is really happening for you?

Has your love faded and you have drifted apart?

Are you going through the motions and buying the card, the flowers and the presents while wishing you were in a different place?

Are you going to be sitting in an expensive restaurant wishing you were as much in love as the others?

If so; you are not alone. Duo Coaching could help you to fall back in love again.