Valentine´s day

Valentine's Day, or St Valentine's Day, is celebrated every year on 14 February. It's the day when people show their affection for another person (or people!) by sending anonymous cards, flowers or chocolates with messages of love.

Valentine´s day

The day gets its name from a famous saint, but there are several stories of who he was. The most popular belief about St Valentine is that he was a priest from Rome in the third century AD. Emperor Claudius II had banned marriage because he thought married men were bad soldiers. Valentine thought this was unfair, so he broke the rules and arranged marriages in secret. When Claudius found out, Valentine was sentenced to death and thrown in jail. There, he fell in love with the jailor's blind daughter. His love and belief in God cured her blindness, and when he was taken to be killed on 14 February he sent her a love letter signed "From your Valentine".

Nowadays, Valentine's Day is massive, with celebrations of love worldwide from India to Iceland. But it's not just about sending messages to people you love - you can also just say you care! In the UK, a massive amount of money is spent on what some say is the most romantic day of the year: 22 million spent on flowers , 7 million red roses are sent , 12 million cards are sent . But in 2001, text messaging exploded, with around 30 million WUBMV messages sent! And according to research: half of all mobile users expect Valentine's txt msgs from loved ones, one in four use txt msgs to ask someone out on 14 February , one in four have sent soppy messages to wrong person! So, have a happy Valentine's Day but remember: don't feel left out if you don't get a card - it's the giving that counts!