2. Saint Valentine's Day is a festival dedicate to loveand
romance. The festival is on February 14 thevery year, and it is
celebrated in many countries around the worldincluding UK,USA,
Canada, Japan, France, China, India,... 3. The popular festival of
love and romancemay have its origin in an ancient Roman festival.
There are various legendsassociated with the festival, and the
wrong beliefthat birds begin to mate from this day. Lupercalia 4.
Many of the legendsthat characterise Saint Valentine were invented
in the 14 thcentury in England. Chaucer wrote a love poem for the
king Richard II and his wife, and then February 14 th first became
associated with romantic love. 5. The popularity of this dayis
because of the combined effects of all these legends, beliefs, and,
of course, the wish to glorify the feeling of LOVE. 6. Valentine
greetings were popular since the Middle Ages. Lovers exchange love
notes called Valentines. Initially, people used to exchange their
own notes, but, in the 19 thcentury, this practice was replaced by
the exchange of greeting cards. Nowadays, Valentine's cards are
given to parents, friends, teachers,...and, of course, to
sweethearts. 7. The most common symbols in Valentine's Dayare:red
roses, hearts, ribbons, love knots, lovebirds, doves, hands, Xs and
Cupid. 8. In the MiddleAges, people celebrated the daywriting the
name of young ladies on small notes of paper and putting them into
a jar. Then, a bachelor chose one noteand he became her valentine.
9. Nowadays people celebrate the day sending cardsand gifts of
flowers and chocolates. Children sing special songs and thenthey
receive candies, fruit or money. Some people do valentine buns
withcaraway seeds, plums or raisins. 10.
