Where The Heck Did All These Valentine Traditions Come From Anyway And Who Was St. Valentine? [VIDEO]
Valentine's Day is fast approaching. Time to get all romantic and get your sweetie a card, candy, flowers and dinner. Where did all this come from? How long have we been celebrating this little holiday of love and why?
Believe it or not, it's been around a long time. A really, really long time. As the video shows, Valentine's Day actually started as a (dare I say it) a pagan ritual.
It was called something totally different back then and it wasn't about Love until much later. What I love is how the day got it's name. Even though there are a few different stories out there, the one that historians seem to settle in on is the story of a priest named Valentine back in the third century.
Under Emperor Claudius II marriage was banned because the Emperor wanted to keep his army strong and he felt that his solders didn't want to fight or go to war because they were so attached to their wives and families. Well, we all know you can't stop love. So, Father Valentine married young couple in secret. He was eventually found out and was beheaded for it!
Check out the whole story of St. Valentine and how some of the traditions began in the video below.