Do you like me, when thinking of Valentine's Day, think of it as being another commercialised practice?
Don't get me wrong I like it if my husband buys me a card on Valentine's Day but it is not essential, he has my heart lock, stock, and barrel all year round.
I trawled the internet to find out the facts of Valentine's Day and was quite interested to read its history dates back to Roman times and the act of giving cards dates back to the 15th Century and giving chocolates in heart-shaped boxes dates back to 1868.
St Valentine was martyred in AD296
It has been known as Feast of St Valentine since AD469
Myth has it that Emperor Claudius II did not want Roman men to marry in wartime but the Bishop of Valentine went against his will and conducted clandestine weddings.
As Christianity became more prevalent new festivals were created to replace previously pagan festivals, some having self-purging at the hear of the ritual and Valentines Day was created to replace one of these festivals which celebrated fertility and in 1537 Henry VII declared by Royal Charter that all England would celebrate February 14th as Saint Valentine's day.
The Red Rose was the favourite flower of Venus the Goddess of Love.
The Duke of Orleans sent the first card to his beloved whilst he was a prisoner in the Tower of London in the 15th Century.
X as a signature - in medieval times it was common practice if you couldn't sign your name to use the letter X in front of a witness and to kiss it afterward as a sign of sincerity.
Why Red - symbolic of the heart, of course, the chamber of love and life.
Approximately 50million Red Roses are sent worldwide every year, it is estimated about 7-10M of these are destined for the UK markets.
Chocolates were first given by Richard Cadbury in a heart-shaped box to his beloved in 1868.
In medieval times the act of chivalry was high and every maiden and bachelor would put their names in boxes. Their names were drawn out in pairs and they became a couple for a year, this often led to marriage. The bachelor was bound by duty to protect the maiden and he pinned her name to his sleeve. Hence the saying "wearing your heart on your sleeve" became known.
We all know a bit more about Valentine's Day now and why it is associated with love, romance, and proposals of marriage.
I would love to hear from anyone who has a romantic proposal from their loved one, sweetheart, this Valentines day.
I offer you this Red Rose a symbol of my love
It may be a bit cliche but i couldn't find a white dove.
I would have bought you a house with a white picket fence.
I had saved a huge deposit but i was short by forty pence.
So darling this Red Rose is the sum of my worldly possessions.
I hand it to you with my heart, and hope you can forgive my understated transgressions.
When I am older and my love I can show you true, I will buy you a forest of green or an ocean of blue.
But for now my sweet love please accept this Red Rose and the three words from my heart...
I LOVE YOU
Finally, I post below some links to purchase my Poetry and Children's Books. The links are for the paperback version but all books are available as an ebook and if you have Kindle Unlimited my Poetry books are free.
I hope you enjoy them if you do I would ask you to kindly leave a review on Amazon.co.uk.
I hope you have a good fortnight and will be in touch with you again on Monday 17th February.
