在這個神父在監獄裡時，據說他送出了第一個「情人節」祝福。據說他愛上了曾來監獄看望他，獄長失明的女兒亞斯得莉斯，並奇蹟地治好了她的眼睛，使之重見光明。在他臨刑前，給女孩一封信，署名「from your Valentine」（這個表達現在還在使用）。儘管這些傳說不真切，但是卻表達了他的富有同情心、英雄氣概、以及最重要的浪漫主義的人格。
教宗在大約公元498年宣佈2月14日是情人節。羅馬人的這種婚配方式被基督教徒認為是不合法的。中世紀時，在英國和法國，通常認為2月14日是鳥交配的季節。因此就把此日增加了一個內容，那就是它應該是一個浪漫的日子。最早的情人節禮物是奧爾良的公爵，查理斯在倫敦塔獄中寫給他妻子的詩。因為他在阿金庫爾戰役中被俘虜了。現在這個寫於1415年的祝福被收藏在倫敦的大英博物館。幾年以後，英皇亨利五世雇John Lydgate寫了一首曲子給Catherine of Valois作為情人節禮物。
(Reuters) - Valentine's Day will stoke the embers of romance worldwide on Thursday.
Here are some key facts on the day and its origins.
* POSSIBLE ORIGINS
-- Although there were several Christian martyrs named Valentine, the day probably took its name from a priest who was martyred about AD 270 by the Roman emperor Claudius II Gothicus.
According to legend, the priest signed a letter to his jailer's daughter, with whom he had fallen in love, "from your Valentine."
-- The day may also have originated in the ancient Roman celebration of the Feast of Lupercalia in honour of Juno, the queen of the Roman gods and goddesses, on February 14. Juno was also the goddess of women and marriage so honoring her was thought to be a fertility rite.
-- At the feast held the next day, the women would write love-letters and stick them in a large urn. The men would pick a letter from the urn and for the next year, pursue the woman who wrote the chosen letter. This custom lasted centuries.
* THE FIRST CARDS
-- The custom of exchanging cards and other tokens of love on February 14 began to develop in England and France in the 14th and 15th centuries and became especially popular in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries.
-- In England in 1477 Margery Brews sent a letter to her fiance, John Paston of Norfolk addressing him as "my right wele-belovyd Voluntyn".
-- In the United States the first commercially produced cards were manufactured by Robert H. Elton of New York in 1834.
* VALENTINE'S DAY EVENTS
-- Since 1994 couples have been married on the 80th floor of the Empire State Building.
-- In 2002 two male and six female elephants were married at a ceremony in the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya, though one pair just did what comes naturally. "It is rather tricky trying to stop a 16-year-old elephant groom from consummating his marriage before the ceremony," said one of the organizers.
-- In 2003 the Galeries Lafayette department store in Paris invited those seeking instant love to a marathon-dating session on February 13 for seven-minute tete-a-tetes with seven potential partners.
-- In 2006 hardline Hindu groups and radical Muslims burned Valentine's Day greeting cards and held protests across India against celebrating the festival of love, saying it was a Western import that spread immorality.
Sources: Reuters/www.britannica.com/www.history.com/Famous First Facts
(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit. editing by Paul Casciato)作者: 芝麻香香 时间: 2008-2-15 01:12