How is Valentine’s Day celebrated in Japan?
Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2025 6:14 am
What are the origins of Valentine’s Day?
Valentine’s Day was originally a Christian feast day that honoured one or more Christian Martyrs. Several martyrs were named Valentine, and little is known about any of them. For this reason, it isn’t entirely clear how those martyrs have become associated with romantic love. Many of the stories about the martyrs were written centuries after their deaths and may have little basis in truth.
Monk Valentine's Day
One of the martyrs concerned was a Roman priest, referred to as Saint Valentine, who is said to have been persecuted and then executed, possibly by Emperor Claudius II. Legend has it that Saint Valentine performed clandestine marriages, and this could be how the connection between him and romantic love was first established.
In the 18th century, a further version of Saint Valentine’s story suggested that the night before his execution, Valentine wrote a card to the daughter of his jailer, signing it as “your Valentine”. This story could have inspired the giving of cards on Valentine’s Day and the expression “from your Valentine”.
It has also been suggested that Saint Valentine cut hearts from parchment and gave these to persecuted guatemala mobile database Christians. This legend may be responsible for the strong association between Valentine’s Day and heart imagery.
The first written reference to Valentine’s Day as a romantic celebration appeared in Chaucer’s 1382 poem, the Parliament of Fowls. However, it is possible that Chaucer was not referring to February 14. We will never know!
In England, the practice of giving Valentine’s cards was established as early as the 18th century. By the 19th century, cards were being mass-produced and a reduction in postage costs saw a huge increase in the number of cards that were mailed to lucky recipients rather than handed to them. The ability to post cards made it possible to send them anonymously. Valentine’s Day was starting to look a little like the celebration that we know today.
Valentine’s Day was not a feature of Japanese culture until the 1930s. The Japanese began to celebrate Valentine’s Day thanks to the commercial awareness of an immigrant.
Valentine’s Day was originally a Christian feast day that honoured one or more Christian Martyrs. Several martyrs were named Valentine, and little is known about any of them. For this reason, it isn’t entirely clear how those martyrs have become associated with romantic love. Many of the stories about the martyrs were written centuries after their deaths and may have little basis in truth.
Monk Valentine's Day
One of the martyrs concerned was a Roman priest, referred to as Saint Valentine, who is said to have been persecuted and then executed, possibly by Emperor Claudius II. Legend has it that Saint Valentine performed clandestine marriages, and this could be how the connection between him and romantic love was first established.
In the 18th century, a further version of Saint Valentine’s story suggested that the night before his execution, Valentine wrote a card to the daughter of his jailer, signing it as “your Valentine”. This story could have inspired the giving of cards on Valentine’s Day and the expression “from your Valentine”.
It has also been suggested that Saint Valentine cut hearts from parchment and gave these to persecuted guatemala mobile database Christians. This legend may be responsible for the strong association between Valentine’s Day and heart imagery.
The first written reference to Valentine’s Day as a romantic celebration appeared in Chaucer’s 1382 poem, the Parliament of Fowls. However, it is possible that Chaucer was not referring to February 14. We will never know!
In England, the practice of giving Valentine’s cards was established as early as the 18th century. By the 19th century, cards were being mass-produced and a reduction in postage costs saw a huge increase in the number of cards that were mailed to lucky recipients rather than handed to them. The ability to post cards made it possible to send them anonymously. Valentine’s Day was starting to look a little like the celebration that we know today.
Valentine’s Day was not a feature of Japanese culture until the 1930s. The Japanese began to celebrate Valentine’s Day thanks to the commercial awareness of an immigrant.