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VALENTINE’S DAY
Valentine's Day, also known as Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, takes place on February 14 every year. [2] It began as a Christian feast day honouring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and has since evolved into a huge cultural, religious, and commercial celebration of romance and love in many parts of the world, thanks to later folk traditions. Pope Gelasius I created the Feast of Saint Valentine in AD 496 to be observed on February 14 in honour of Saint Valentine of Rome, who died on that date in AD 269. In the 14th and 15th centuries, when concepts of courtly love flourished, the day became connected with romantic love, owing to its relationship with the "lovebirds" of early spring. It evolved into an occasion in which couples celebrated their love for one another by giving flowers, offering candy, and sending greeting cards in 18th-century England (known as "valentines"). The heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid are still used today as Valentine's Day symbols. Handwritten valentines have been replaced by mass-produced greeting cards since the nineteenth century. Saint Valentine's Keys are presented to lovers as a "romantic symbol and an invitation to unlock the giver's heart," as well as to youngsters to prevent epilepsy (known as Saint Valentine's Malady) in Italy. While modern Anglo-American practises connecting the day with romantic love have marginalised European folk traditions associated with Saint Valentine and St. Valentine's Day, there are still some links connecting the saint with the arrival of spring.