YOUR GUIDE TO VALENTINE'S DAY

Love it or loathe it, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.

The stores are already stocking teddy bears clutching ‘I love you’ hearts and enough chocolates to send you into sugar shock.

While much of it might seem like commercial hype, it’s important to remember the real reason behind such a day – love.

Valentine’s Day is a wonderful opportunity - and reminder - to tell that special someone in our lives how much we love and appreciate them.

In our day-to-day lives, it’s easy to be caught up in the mundane and forget to do those simple things to show our significant others how much we care.

February 14 is a perfect chance to put in a little extra effort and attentiveness.

Book a dinner at a restaurant where you can both relax, enjoy a conversation together and reconnect.

Surprise them with a bunch of their favourite flowers, or even a simple, single long-stemmed rose with a hand written note.

Plan a picnic at your favourite spot, surprise them with a sweet treat, or even plan a weekend getaway or get that something they’ve been eyeing off in the stores for a while.

While gifts are wonderful, ensure you include something which cannot be bought – you.

And don’t look at the day as a day only for lovers.

If you’re single, it’s a great day to treat and pamper yourself with a little bit of TLC.

Try a new restaurant with your mates, run a warm bath, or fly solo at the movies with no fear of having that movie you secretly want to see vetoed.

Whatever you do this Valentine’s Day, make sure you make time to spend time with the one you love.

THE HISTORY OF VALENTINE'S DAY

There isn't just one Valentine - there are at least two early Christian martyrs named Valentine recorded in church history, both were willed in the third century uner Emperor Claudius II.

The most popular of the two legends is that Claudius banned marriages for young men as he believed soldiers fought better when they were unencumbered and a priest named Valentine secretly performed weddings regardless.

According to the legend Valentine was arrested and executed around 269 CE.

The other legend claimed Valentine healed a jailer's blind daughter and signed a note to her 'From your Valentine'.

A phrase that has now become a romantic symbol, though historians question if this story is fact or fiction.

During the late fifth century Pope Galsius I declared February 14 as the feast of St Valentine making it a religious holiday.

Poet Geoffrey Chaucer, in the 1300s, wrote that February 14 was the day birds chose their mates, with the idea spreading and embraced that Valentine's Day is a day of love.

During the 1400s people wrote love notes called valentines, nobles exchanged romantic messages and the day became associated with lovers coming together.

Between the 18th and 19th centuries handmade and mass produced cards became popular, especially in England and the United States, with the holiday eventually becoming commercialised.

By the time the 20th century rolled around, flowers, gifts, sweets, chocolated and greeting cards all turned into a global holiday that we know as Valentine's Day today.

WHERE DOES CUPID COME IN?

The story of cupid spans back well before St Valentine, with Cupid recognised as a part of Roman mythology.

Cupid was known as the Roman god of desire and attraction, similar to the Greek god Eros.

Cupid was the son of the goddess of love Venus and carried bow and arrows with his arrows allowing people to fall in love instantly if they were shot with them.

Cupid, though represented as a cherub or baby like creature, was actually originally shown as a young man who represented powerful and sometimes dangerous passion.

In Roman mythology love wasn't always seen as gentle, it was wild, irrational and uncontrollable.

During the Renaissance period artists began portarying the god as a mischevous, winged child who symbolised love rather than lust, making the god appear softer, charming and less threatening.

When February 14 became linked with romance across Europe, artists and poets used Cupid as the most famous symbol of love to decorate poems, cards and manuscripts.

As a result, Cupid was adopted as the mascot for Valentine's Day since he already represented love.

Did you know that Cupid's arrows have symbolic meaning?

A gold arrow means instant love and a lead arrow means rejection or indifference with the message being that love strikes suddenly and without logic, you aren't able to choose it, it chooses you.