How Valentine's Day began and how celebrated in Kosovo

Flowers, various jewelry, chocolates, cards are some of the gifts Kosovo citizens like to donate to their loved ones on the occasion of February 14th.

The Day of Lovers or otherwise known as Valentine's is named after a famous saint, but there are many stories about who he was.

It is widely believed that St. Valentine had been a priest from Rome during the third century.

Emperor Claudius II had then stopped marriage because he thought that married men were weak soldiers. But Valentine had believed that that rule is unfair, and had broken the rules by secretly marrying couples.

When Claudius understood, he had imprisoned Valentine and sentenced him to life in prison.

In prison, Valentine had fallen in love with the prison guard's daughter and had been sent to shoot her on February 14th, had sent a letter with the signing “from your Valentine”!

How did Valentine's Day start?

Valentine's Day is a very old tradition, and is believed to have originated from a Roman festival.

The Romans had held a festival called Lupercalia in the middle of February officially at the start of their spring.

It is believed that as part of various celebrations, the boys had drawn girls' names from a box. Then the girl whose name had been drawn from the box had been brought in as a couple during the festival and had at times even ended up in marriage.

Later, the church had decided to turn this festival into a Christian festival and had decided to use it to recall Valentine's Day.

Gradually, Valentine's name had begun to be used by people to express their feelings of love to the person who loved it. In Kosovo, St. Valentine has begun to celebrate after 1999.