Valentine’s Day is celebrated on 14 February as a day to express love, affection, and appreciation in relationships, and it grew from a mix of an early Christian feast for Saint Valentine, older Roman traditions, and later medieval romantic literature.

Quick Scoop

1. The core idea today

  • It’s a day to celebrate love in many forms: romantic partners, close friends, and family.
  • People usually exchange cards, flowers (especially red roses), chocolates, or spend special time together.
  • In recent years, it’s also become common to mark friendships (like “Galentine’s Day”) and self‑love, not just couples.

2. Where did Valentine’s Day come from?

Several threads of history slowly blended into what we now call Valentine’s Day:

  1. Christian feast of Saint Valentine
    • The day started as a feast in honor of a Christian martyr named Valentine (there may have been more than one), remembered for his faith and sacrifice.
 * Later legends say he secretly helped couples marry despite imperial bans, which tied his story to loyal and self‑sacrificing love.
  1. Possible link to Roman festivals
    • Around mid‑February, ancient Romans held Lupercalia, a fertility and purification festival involving rituals meant to bless health, childbirth, and pairing of men and women.
 * As Christianity spread, older festivals were often reshaped or replaced by Christian feast days, and over time some of the “love and pairing” themes stuck to Saint Valentine’s Day.
  1. Medieval romance and poets
    • In the Middle Ages, writers like Geoffrey Chaucer helped connect Saint Valentine’s Day with courtly, romantic love, especially the idea of birds (and people) choosing mates in spring.
 * Courtly love culture—chivalry, secret admiration, poetic declarations—turned the feast from a religious day into a romantic occasion.
  1. From letters to cards and gifts
    • By early modern Europe, people were exchanging handwritten “valentines,” sometimes signed with the phrase “from your Valentine,” which is linked to the prison legend of Saint Valentine’s farewell letter.
 * With printing and mass‑produced cards, especially in England and later the United States, Valentine’s Day became a big social and commercial tradition centered on cards, sweets, and flowers.

3. Why 14 February specifically?

  • The Christian feast of Saint Valentine was placed on 14 February, commemorating his martyrdom according to church tradition.
  • Because it sat near older February festivals and later became associated with the idea of birds pairing in late winter/early spring, that date stuck as a symbol of love beginning to “bloom.”

4. What it means in 2026

  • Today, Valentine’s Day is both a cultural and commercial event: a big day for florists, card makers, restaurants, and online gifting.
  • At the same time, many people use it more personally—to check in on relationships, celebrate long‑term commitment, or simply send a kind message to someone who matters.

In simple terms: Valentine’s Day is celebrated because over centuries people wrapped stories of a martyr, old festivals, poetry, and tradition into one day that’s now devoted to saying “you matter to me.”

TL;DR: Valentine’s Day is celebrated because a Christian feast for Saint Valentine, ancient Roman customs, and medieval romantic poetry gradually merged into a single February 14 tradition focused on expressing love with messages, flowers, and time together.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.