Joyeuse Saint Valentin! Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today, many countries around the world celebrate Valentine’s Day, a day to celebrate love in an often harsh world.

How did the day originate? According to one legend, Saint Valentine of Rome was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers and Christians, both of whom were forbidden to marry under the Roman Empire. During his imprisonment, he healed the daughter of his jailer, Asterius, and before his execution, he wrote her a letter signed “Your Valentine” as a farewell.

The day was first associated with romantic love during the time of Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century, when courtly love flourished. The modern-day tradition of giving flowers and sweets and sending greeting cards, “valentines,” evolved by the 18th century.

A lock of love on the Pont des Arts.

In Europe, Saint Valentine’s Keys are given to lovers “as a romantic symbol and an invitation to unlock the giver’s heart.” This is why the locks on Pont des Arts in Paris were so meaningful, and their removal so poignant: in the City of Love, there is a rich tradition of keys, locks and love. Some governments would have never allowed such a public display of emotion; the French government only removed them because the weight of so many locks caused a safety hazard for the bridge.

In the U.S., in an effort to be inclusive, Valentine’s Day is for friends and family, as well as lovers, to express their warm feelings towards one another. But in Paris, it is a day for lovers to celebrate their romantic love with dinner, a show, a moon-lit walk, or perhaps a cruise on the River Seine.

I have no one special in my life. I met someone once, a man I worked with, someone who made me feel like “swirling and dancing” whenever I was around him. He brought out the very best in me, as a woman and a person, but I could never tell him how I felt. I realized only much later that deep down, I didn’t believe I deserved to be that happy. At least I still have my first love: Paris. I love Paris and its people as though the place and people were my own. My blood-line heritage may be only partly French, but I feel nearly 100% French in my heart. I hope I honor that love through my blog and website, Elsa’s Travel Blog on Paris.

Joyeuse Saint Valentin.

References: “Valentine’s Day,” Wikipedia, CCBY 3.0. Lyrics of “Miracles” by Jefferson Starship, 1975.

Image of I Love Paris and lock on Pont des Arts by CanStockPhoto.