
To those people that claim that Valentine's Day is a holiday invented by greeting card companies, I give you
this bit of history (I love you, Wikipedia).
The ancient Greeks and Romans celebrated fertility in the month of February and in 496 AD the pope declared that February 14th would be the feast of St. Valentine. In 1382 Geoffrey Chaucer wrote:
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- "For this was on seynt Volantynys day
- Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese [chose] his make [mate]."
So we see that although Joyce C. Hall began selling postcards for his company Hall Brothers in 1910 (destined to become Hallmark in 1928), the holiday of Valentine's Day was recognized long before its now well-known commercial front.
P.S. Being that this is the second year EVER that I can say "Happy Valentine's Day" to someone and actually mean it in
that way, I have to say - I LOVE the holiday!!!