Valentine’s Day is known as a day for love, but it is also a day to remember the history behind this memorable holiday.

    When most people think of Valentine’s Day they think of candy hearts and flowers.  Some think that Valentine’s Day was actually invented to help out the florists and candy vendors.  On the T.V. show Bones, Dr. Brennan says, “It’s a ridiculous holiday. The banks don’t even close.”
    In the present day most people are caught up in the romance of flowers and wine.  The importance of this holiday is to remember the past:  love and a bloody massacre.  Everything started with a saint in love, then a mobster changed the memory to a bloody mess.
    Saint Valentine lived in the third century in Rome.  He was a priest for the roman catholic church.  The history channel states that Claudius II found that single men were better soldiers, than men who were married.  Claudius outlawed marriage so he could have the army that he dreamed of.
    Valentine did not like this law and went on marrying couples in secret.  He believed that marriage and love was important to life.  The history channel said that Claudius soon found out and ordered that Valentine be put to death.
    While in jail awaiting his death, he fell in love with a young women and actually sent her a greeting.  This greeting was later marked as the first Valentine.  The reason for this was explained in the Encyclopedia Britannica, “the priest signed a letter to his jailer’s daughter, whom he had befriended and with whom he had fallen in love, ‘from your Valentine.’”
    The Encyclopedia also goes on to say that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in February because of the festivals that were held for the coming of spring and fertility.  It is always stated that when spring comes, love is in the air.
    There are also some that remember Valentine’s Day for another reason, it is also when the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre happened.
    On February 14th,1929 the most known mob killing happened over prohibition.  Al Capone and his followers gunned down several men. On prairieghosts.com they state that seven men were gunned down in an attempt to take out the North-side Mob.
    Prairieghosts.com also explains that they tricked the North-side mob by telling them that a hijacked shipment of Whiskey was ready for them to pick up.  When they showed up for the package, they were met with guns.
    There is a lot more to Valentine’s Day than cards and candy.  There is a lot of history that happened on Valentine’s Day.  Everything started with a man that believed in love, he died fighting for love.

Another man made other’s die on the day that signifies love.  Which ever is remembered, Valentine’s Day is something more than what we celebrate.