It’s Valentine’s Day

Today, the city will be painted in red, not because there’s some danger lurking around; it will be a red day as lovers take out time to mark Valentine’s Day. February 14, celebrated across the globe, is a day people show affection to another person by sending gifts, cards, flowers, cakes and chocolates.

Several legends are associated with Valentine’s Day. One of them and the most popular is that Valentine’s Day is named after a person and his name was Saint Valentine. According to the legend, the story of this loving day is not filled with love. It is about a confrontation between a saint valentine and a cruel king. Saint Valentine was a priest in Rome and served during the third century while Claudius II reigned as king.

The king was against love affairs and marriage. He believed that by love or marriage, soldiers forget their goals and the married man is always worried about what will happen to his family after his death. Due to this concern, he is unable to pay full attention to the battle. Keeping this in mind, King Claudius announced that no soldier of his kingdom will marry and anyone who did not listen to him will be punished severely.

All the soldiers were unhappy with this decision but there was a saint in Rome named Valentine who did not accept the decision of the king. He started marrying the soldiers by hiding from the king. When King Claudius got the news, he sentenced Saint Valentine to death.