14th February

This holiday is named after a real person

Saint Valentine was a priest near Rome in the year 270 A.D, (the early days of the Christian church)

During this time, lots of Christians were killed

They had to practice their religion in secret

At this time marriage was prohibited by the Roman Empire.

His mission was to help Christians get married in secret.

Soldiers weren’t allowed to get married

The Roman Emperor Claudius II wanted to make his army bigger and he believed that married men were not good soldiers

Saint Valentine was jailed becvause he was a Christian by the Roman Emperor Claudius

Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a talk with him

He told him if he changed his religion and became a pagan he won’t kill him

Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead.

Because of this, he was killed.

Valentine’s jailer was a man named Asterius

Asterius had a young daughter called Julia who was blind

Before he was killed, Saint Valentine

performed a miracle by healing Julia

The jailer and all his family converted to Christianity and were baptized

The night before Valentine’s death, he wrote the first "valentine" card himself

He gave it to Julia, the daughter of his jailer, who was no longer blind

He signed it “From your Valentine.“

This expression "From your Valentine" is used today in Valentine cards in many countries

This day is now celebrated all over the world

In the U.K. On Valentine’s day people give flowers, cards and presents to their loved ones

Usually the restaurants and bars are very busy because couples go out for a romantic meal or drink

A very common type of valentines poem starts off with:

“Roses are red, Violets are blue...”

Can you invent one?

E.g. Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you.

What do you think of Valentine’s day? Do you like it?

What do you think the true meaning of Valentine’s day is?

Do you think everyone enjoys it? Why/Why not?

Did you get any Valentine’s cards?