Valentine's Day Romance

Valentine's Day Love!

By Lulie Swanepoel

Love is one of the strongest emotions in the human experience. This strong feeling for another person is often hard to describe and difficult to express, but there are certain occasions, Valentine's Day in particular, when displays of affection are called for.

Couples around the world celebrate Valentine's Day, also known as St. Valentine's Day, each year on the 14th of February. This romantic occasion and celebration of love gives people the opportunity to show their feelings of love and affection for one another. Couples aside, this celebration of romance is also the one day where secret admirers and singletons can make their affections known to an unsuspecting beloved.

As a symbol of one's affection, sending flowers, gifts or a card has become part of the Valentine's Day tradition, which in itself has a rather mysterious romantic history as one would expect.

The history of St. Valentine
There are numerous legends as to who Saint Valentine was and why we celebrate Valentine's Day. Today St. Valentine's Day contains remnants of both Roman and Christian traditions and only three of the saints connected to Valentine's Day are recognised by the Catholic Church. All of these men were known as Valentine or Valentinus and were martyred.

The one legend tells of a priest known as Valentine who served during Emperor Claudius II's rule in Rome during the third century. Claudius who was building his army of soldiers banned marriage as he felt that single men made for better soldiers. Valentine recognised the unfairness of this and continued marrying young lovers in secret. When Claudius became aware of this he ordered that the priest be put to death.

Through the ages Valentine's Day evolved. The acknowledgement of the first St. Valentine's message belongs to a young Frenchman, the Duke of Orleans, who desperately longed for his wife while being incarcerated in the Tower of London during the 15th Century. Today sixty of the romantic notes written to his wife are displayed in the British Museum.

Over two hundred years later flowers became fashionable when the daughter of King Henry IV of France threw a party honouring St. Valentine. All the men who attended were asked to bring a bouquet of flowers to give to the woman they have chosen to bring as a Valentine companion.

Be my Valentine
Today the red rose is regarded as the ultimate symbol of Valentine's Day. The rose evokes feelings of passion that not even Venus, the goddess of love could resist, declaring it her favourite flower.

Florists around the world acknowledge that the ideal Valentine's gift is a bouquet of red roses adorned with the Baby's Breath flower.

However, giving red roses to show your admiration is not set in stone. There are a wide variety of flowers you can consider including orchids, lilies, tulips and of course roses of another colour. A mixture of flowers beautifully designed and styled or a tailor-made bouquet that would reflect your partner's taste would be perfect!

Another Valentine's Day favourite is of course chocolates. The ideal Valentine's Day gift would then surely be a beautiful bouquet of flowers with a box of chocolates but for a promise of things to come, delivered at your loved one's door step by your florist with a bottle of champagne, often referred to as the lover's drink.

Ultimately, after centuries of romance, the way to your loved one's heart is still with well sought-out Valentine's Day flowers and a gift to show your feelings of love and devotion on this happy day.

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