On this day, lovers all over the world - men and women, boys and girls - as a sign of love for each other - give "valentines" - gifts in the shape of a heart with tender declarations.
Valentine's Day is considered a folk holiday, not a church holiday. Its origin is pagan. On this day, a holiday was celebrated in honor of the goddess Juno, the patroness of lovers.
Valentine's Day has been widely celebrated since the 13th century in Western Europe, and since 1777 – in the USA.
In the Orthodox Church, the holiday of lovers is also treated as a non-church holiday and they express regret that Valentine's Day is often used to justify love affairs that are unlawful from the point of view of the church.
Almost nothing is known about the life of the real Christian Valentine (born in the 3rd century AD in the city of Terni - Roman Empire). Legends tell that the bishop of Terni, being a young man, provided special help to young lovers - he helped write letters with declarations of love, reconciled those who had quarreled, gave flowers to young spouses. His arrest was allegedly caused by the fact that the Roman emperor Julius Claudius II did not allow soldiers of the imperial legions to fall in love and marry, and Valentine secretly married legionnaires.
On Valentine's Day, the British send love messages not only to friends and acquaintances, but also to their pets. The Japanese, meanwhile, have turned February 14 into a kind of "March 8 for men," when gifts are received mainly by the stronger sex. It is on this day that birds begin to look for a mate.