Oh, my Love is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June.
Oh, my Love is like the Melodie
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.
Robert Burns
1. This holiday goes back to pagan times and the Roman feast of Lupercalia.
2. The names of young unmarried girls were put into a vase.
3. The young men picked a name and discovered who would be their bride.
4. This custom came to Britain when the Romans invaded it.
5. But the Church moved the festival to the nearest Christian saint’s day: this was St.Valentine’s day on the 14th of February.
6. St.Valentine was a martyr and he was considered to be the patron of lovers.
7. The commonest tradition on this day is sending special cards called “valentines” to friends and sweethearts.
8. These cards are not signed and the person who receives them has to guess who sent them.
9. “Valentines” are coloured red and have red trimmings and pictures of hearts.
10. The cards themselves often have the form of a heart.
11. The words on the cards “Be my Valentine!” mean “be my friend or love”.
12. A “valentine” may also mean a little present: a heart-shaped box of chocolates, also shaped like a heart, or a bunch of flowers – red roses, as a rule.
13. St. Valentine’s Day is not a public holiday in the UK and it is not a national holiday in the USA, but it is widely celebrated by people of all ages.
14. Now the holiday is becoming more and more popular all over the world, for example, in Russia.