Hey everyone and welcome back to the Understandable English Podcast. My name is Oliver and today we are going to talk about Valentine's Day. So what is Valentine's Day and how do people celebrated in the UK and maybe in other countries around the world? So at its core, this special day is all about love and we will look at its origins. So it's beginning why it became a thing and some sweet traditions.
It's interesting because I think in the past Valentine's Day was not so big everywhere, but looking around it seems to be somewhat in every part of the world, even if it is still not super important in some cultures and countries. But of course, as we know, the world has become a much smaller place, and ideas and traditions now spread so they move across the world at a rate faster than ever before.
So what is Valentine's Day? Basically, Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate love and affection between people every year. It takes place on the 14th of February, but it doesn't have to be celebrated exactly on the 14th of February. It can be on another day quite close, and this is a day when people express their feelings to those that they care about. You will probably see a lot of red hearts and Flyers and sweet treats everywhere.
So let's quickly look at perhaps the origins of the beginning of Saint Valentine's Day. And people often will wonder who is Valentine? Who is Saint Valentine? To be honest, the history of Valentine's Day is quite mysterious. It is quite unclear, but one legend suggests that it is named after a Christian St. named St. Valentine. He lived a long time ago and there are different stories about his kindness and how he
helped people that were in love. But if I look at some of the historical sources, particularly with the Encyclopedia Britannica, which is a big source for history information in the UK, they say that the origins of Valentine's Day may have came from a Roman festival called Lupricalia.
That is probably not how to say it, but it's a Roman festival which was held in mid February. This festival was to celebrate the arrival, so the coming of spring, and it included fertility rights and pairing of woman with men. So matching couples together saying yes, you go with her, you go with him, you're a good couple.
And some people believe that apparently at the end of the 5th century, the Pope at the time to the head of the Catholic Church, the boss of the Catholic Church, he banned this, this celebration, this festival. He said no, you can't do this anymore. And he sometimes people now say that he replaced that festival with Saint Valentine's Day. But in general, Valentine's Day was not celebrated as a day of romance. So love until about 700 years
ago. So to be totally honest, no one really knows the true history of Saint Valentine's Day. So how it started? But what we do know is that this day is very popular in countries such as the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia and it's other seller. It's also celebrated in other countries including Argentina, France, Mexico and South Korea. So there is no doubt that this holiday where celebration has spread or moved across the world. So what are some things that
people do on Valentine's Day? Well, one thing is expressing love with a greeting card. So a greeting card is a piece of card or paper which will have a nice message inside and often people will write a poem or a cute message of love and it's a way of sharing your feelings of love and affection for someone. And this card usually comes with a gift like chocolates or Flyers. And yeah, it is usually just a way of showing physically that you love someone.
Of course, in my opinion, one of the reasons as to why this holiday is so popular is because it makes a lot of money for businesses because people buy lots of gifts for their partners and they take them to restaurants or events and the economy really benefits from this holiday. So it is in my opinion less of a holiday about love and more of a holiday about spending money. Another way people express their
love is through roses. So we mentioned Flyers and one of the Valentine's traditions is to give Flyers, especially red roses as these are a symbol of love and passion. So a strong love and care for someone. People will also plan romantic dinners or a surprise for their loved ones. It's about showing appreciation so that you care about someone that is close to you. It is important to know that Valentine Valentine's Day is not just for couples. It isn't just for romantic love.
It can also be to celebrate friendships. You can give a gift or exchange cards with your friends to show them that you care as well. It isn't all about a husband or a wife or a partner, it can be about those that you care about around you. And finally, I think sometimes planning a simple Valentine's Day can be the best. SO celebrating it, but keeping it simple. You can have a cosy evening at home, cook a nice meal, watch a romantic movie, and spend some quality time together.
Ultimately, with holidays like this, it's the most important part is not what you buy or exactly what you do. It is showing the other person or the people around you that you care about them, showing that you've thought about them and you've made plans or put in the effort to show that you care. And that's why I think it can be a really good holiday, just to remind people to show that they care. But you don't have to do this on Valentine's Day. And that's the amazing thing is
this is a holiday. But any of the things that you do on this holiday you can do any time. And to be honest, it will probably mean a lot more if you do it at a time that is outside of Valentine's Day. But thank you for listening to this episode of the podcast. I hope that you have an amazing Valentine's Day. No matter how you celebrate it, whether you are alone or with loved ones, I hope you have a relaxing day. And if you are alone on Valentine's Day, then treat and
love yourself. Buy yourself something nice, cook yourself a nice meal or get some nice food and relax. Enjoy your evening, have a lovely rest of the day and I will see you in the next episode of the podcast. Goodbye.