Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day in Europe is solely about love and not so much about
friendshipas in the US... Unfortunately.
Although in general I think there should not need to be a dedicated day to
celebrate friendship/ love. It should happen naturally and individually.
Here in Europe many people think this day has been invented by the flower/
chocolate industry and not many know about the true background. I have to
admit I only know that there is a real story behind it from watching Gilmore Girls where this topic comes up as
well.

So here is to love and friendship!

THE HISTORY OF ST. VALENTINE
Saint Valentine's Day, often simply Valentine's Day, is observed on February 14 each year. Today Valentine's Day is celebrated in many countries around the world, mostly in the West, although it remains a working day in all of them.

The original "St. Valentine" was just a lithurgical celebration of one or more early Christian saint named Valentinus. All the modern romantic connotations were added several centuries later by poets. Several martyrdom stories were invented for the various Valentines that belonged to 14th February, and added to later martyrologies. This celebration was deleted from the General Roman Calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI.

The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. By the 15th century, it had evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines").

Modern Valentine's Day symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards