FTD Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day has been know for a long time to be a day of love. But what is the origin of Valentine's Day? On February 14th of each year, we celebrate Valentine's Day. The name St. Valentine has pagan origins. It is believed that the people of the Middle Ages pronounced the « g » as a « v ». The original name of which was Galantie derived from gallant, which designated a brash young man, know for his « love stories ».

Before Valentine's Day, there was a pagan holiday celebrated on February 15th : the Roman Lupercalia. At that time the Romans celebrated this holiday of Lupercalia in honor of the god Lupercus, protector of herds and crops. During the festivities, they sang and danced to attract the grace of god Lupercus. The day before the festival, young women deposited their name in a ceramic pot so that young men could randomly pick one. They wore the name chosen on their sleeve during the week. The old saying « wear your heart on your sleeve » which means not being capable of hiding one's feelings, came from this ancient tradition. In the year 496, the Pope banned this ritual due to it being « disrespectful » towards women, he chose Valentine as the patron of lovers and declared February 14th the official date for this holiday, the day of his birthday.

But who was Valentine?
Around 270 BC Rome was engaged in military compaigns which cost the lives of many soldiers. The Roman emperor Claudius II had great difficulty recruiting soldiers who preferred to remain close to their wives and fiancees. Furious, the emperor also known as Claudius the Cruel, decided to ban all marriages and engagements. Couples who wanted to marry had to find someone who could unite them. A priest named Valentine agreed to bless the unions, defying the emperor's orders. The emperor soon heard of this and arrested Father Valentine. After a year in prison, Valentine who still refused to convert to Roman gods, was condemned to death, Beaten and finnaly beheaded on February 14th. In remembrance of his sacrifince for love, Valentine was canonized and thus became St-Valentine. While he was imprisoned, it is said that Valentine would have cured his jailer's daughter of blindness. She took care of him and before his execution, he sent her a message : « Thank you, your Valentine ». This message is said to be the reason why sending a card on Valentine's Day became a tradition. Also according to legend, a pink almond tree, symbol of eternal love, was planted at the foot of his tombstone. For a very long time now, sending Flowers on Valentine's Day has become tradition, the rose has replaced the pink almond tree as a symbol of love on Valentine's Day.

Rita's Florist, WFN and MegFlowers.com offer a wide choice of Flowers for that special someone on Valentine's Day. Red roses will always remain the symbol of Valentine's Day, however pink and white roses can also be offered on this day. You would like to prepare the most romantic evening on Valentine's Day! Have a box of rose petals prepared. Romance guaranteed! She loves chocolate! Rita's Florist, WFN and MegFlowers.com can prepare and send a beautiful Arrangement of Flowers along with superior quality chocolates.

Love is the most important emotion, Valentine's Day allows us to express these strong feelings we have for a loved one and we hope you enjoy this day with someone special.
Happy Valentine's Day!