Today most people celebrate Valentine's Day. I don't know anyone named Valentine, but it was once a more common name and there are quite a few Christian martyrs who bear this name. Incidentally, Ross has a Belgian friend who also attends K.U. Leuven whose name is Valentine. Pronounced Val-en-teen. I'm not sure if it is spelled the same though.
Valentine's Day began as a Christian holiday celebrating those martyrs mentioned above. I guess that narrows down Hallmark's target market. However, the Roman Catholic Church removed this holiday from the official calendar in 1969. Despite that, we are actually celebrating two saints named Valentine, of course. Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni who both lived around 200 AD. Oddly enough, they had nothing to do with romance, chocolate, or greeting cards.
There is a legend that on the evening before one of those Valentine's mentioned above was executed, he wrote the first "valentine" card to his beloved that read "From your Valentine". This legend has no historical basis whatsoever, but you can see why it has been repeated for centuries.
And who cares really. Although I suppose every day should be Valentine's Day, it's nice to have a day set aside to remind us to tell those we love that we love them!
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