Valentine’s Day is the day to celebrate love, but what is love? In an article published in the Guardian in December 2012, five experts, in the fields of science, psychotherapy, literature, religion and philosophy, present their own theories on love. In addition to these five disciplines, I would like to add one more definition from

an arts perspective. For an artist, love is passion—the strong emotion, excitement and desire that artists feels towards their craft and art making.

Thus, Love is…

For the physicist: ‘Love is chemistry’
For the psychotherapist: ‘Love has many guises’
For the philosopher: ‘Love is a passionate commitment’
For the romantic novelist: ‘Love drives all great stories’
For the nun: ‘Love is free yet binds us’
For the artist: ‘Love is passion’

In the celebration of love, here are some must-know facts about Valentine’s Day:

Bishop Valentine went against the Emperor (Claudius II, 270 AD) wishes and performed secret wedding ceremonies. For this, Valentine was jailed and then executed on February 14. While in jail, he wrote a love note to the jailor’s daughter signing it, “From your Valentine.”
Physicians of the 1800’s commonly advised their patients to eat chocolate to calm their pining for lost love.
The red rose was the favorite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love.
Cupid, a symbol of Valentine’s Day, became associated with Valentine’s Day because he was the son of Venus, the Roman god of love and beauty.
The most fantastic gift of love is the Taj Mahal in India. It was built by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan as a memorial to his wife.
Every Valentine’s Day, the Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare’s lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet.

References:

Have A Great Valentine’s Week!

Here is an animated Video of The History of St. Valentine’s Day by Andre Oentoro. It speaks to the love letter. Enjoy!

2 thoughts on “Valentine’s Day: Love and Passion”

Here is an animated video version on history of valentine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGx7q4O6w2w
It tells exactly how Valentine was captured by Claudius, and was executed, right after he wrote the eternally remembered ‘from your Valentine’ letter.

Feel free to embed the video, it is using CC attribution.