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Valentine’s Day is the secular festival of romantic love held annually on February 14 — originally the feast day of Saint Valentine of Rome, instituted by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD and reinvented as a romantic occasion by Chaucer in the 14th century.
When does Valentine’s Day fall?
Valentine’s Day is a fixed-date holiday on February 14 — the traditional feast day of Saint Valentine. The date was set by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD when he added Valentine to the Roman calendar of martyrs. The modern celebration of romantic love is essentially Western and largely Anglo-French in origin, traced to Geoffrey Chaucer’s 1382 poem “Parlement of Foules.”
Upcoming Valentine’s Day dates
| Year | Date | Day of week |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | February 14, 2027 | Sunday |
| 2028 | February 14, 2028 | Monday |
| 2029 | February 14, 2029 | Wednesday |
| 2030 | February 14, 2030 | Thursday |
| 2031 | February 14, 2031 | Friday |
Who was Saint Valentine?
The Catholic Church recognised at least three saints named Valentine, all martyred in the 3rd century, of whom the most prominent are:
- Valentine of Rome — a Roman priest martyred c. 269 AD under Emperor Claudius II Gothicus. Tradition holds he was executed for secretly marrying Christian couples; the historical record is thin.
- Valentine of Terni — bishop of Terni in central Italy, also martyred in the 3rd century. Some scholars argue he and Valentine of Rome are the same person.
Both were commemorated on February 14. Pope Gelasius I added the feast to the General Roman Calendar in 496 AD. In 1969 the Catholic Church removed Valentine from the universal calendar — not because he never existed, but because the historical record was too thin to support a universal feast. He is still venerated locally, particularly in Terni and at the church of San Valentino in Rome.
How Valentine’s Day became romantic
The romantic association is medieval English, not Roman. Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Parlement of Foules” (c. 1382) depicted February 14 as the day birds chose their mates — possibly the first link between Valentine’s feast and love-making. The custom spread through court poetry: Charles, Duke of Orléans, wrote what is generally considered the first surviving Valentine’s letter from the Tower of London in 1415, addressing his wife Bonne of Armagnac as “ma tres doulce Valentinee.”
By the 17th century, exchanging handwritten notes on February 14 was an established English custom. Mass-produced commercial Valentine cards appeared in the 1840s in the UK and US (Esther Howland in Worcester, Massachusetts, was a major early producer). The Hallmark card company began producing Valentines in 1913.
The modern commercial holiday
Valentine’s Day is now one of the largest commercial holidays in the US. According to the National Retail Federation:
- Total US spending in 2024: $27.5 billion (around $186 per consumer who celebrates).
- Around 53% of US adults plan to celebrate; men spend roughly twice as much as women on average.
- Top categories: jewellery, evening out, flowers, candy, greeting cards.
- The day is also one of the busiest of the year for florists (especially red roses) and for restaurants — many small establishments do their highest single-day sales of the year.
Around the world
- Brazil — observes Dia dos Namorados on June 12, the eve of St Anthony, the “marriage saint.”
- Japan — women give chocolate on February 14; men reciprocate on White Day, March 14.
- South Korea — same as Japan plus Black Day (April 14) when singles eat jajangmyeon noodles.
- Finland and Estonia — February 14 is called “Friend’s Day” (Ystävänpäivä) and celebrates friendship rather than only romance.
- Iran and Saudi Arabia — Valentine’s Day is officially discouraged or banned, though widely celebrated unofficially.
Sources & references
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Valentine’s Day
- National Retail Federation — Valentine’s Day spending data
- Chaucer, Geoffrey. “Parlement of Foules” (c. 1382) — the earliest known link between February 14 and romantic love.
FAQs
February 14 was the feast day of Saint Valentine of Rome (and Saint Valentine of Terni) on the Roman Catholic calendar, traditionally the date of his execution under Emperor Claudius II in the 3rd century AD. The day was added to the General Roman Calendar by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD. The Catholic Church removed Valentine from the universal calendar in 1969 due to scarce historical information about him, but the cultural date stuck.
The romantic association is largely traced to Geoffrey Chaucer’s 1382 poem “Parlement of Foules,” which describes February 14 as the day birds choose their mates: “For this was on seynt Volantynys day / Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.” Whether Chaucer started the tradition or recorded an existing one is debated. The custom spread through medieval English court poetry, and the first known Valentine card dates from 1415 (the Duke of Orléans, imprisoned in the Tower of London).
The Lupercalia connection is commonly repeated but historically weak. Lupercalia (February 13–15) was a Roman fertility festival that was suppressed by Pope Gelasius I around 494 AD — but Gelasius condemned it specifically and did not replace it with Valentine’s feast. There is no historical evidence that Valentine’s Day was instituted to displace Lupercalia, and the romantic associations only appear nearly 900 years later with Chaucer.
The National Retail Federation reported total US Valentine’s Day spending of $27.5 billion in 2024 (around $186 per consumer who celebrates). The biggest categories are jewellery ($6.4 billion), an evening out ($4.9 billion), flowers ($2.6 billion), candy ($2.4 billion) and greeting cards ($1.3 billion). Men spend roughly twice as much as women on average.
Red roses have been associated with Aphrodite/Venus — the Greek and Roman goddesses of love — since antiquity. The specific Valentine’s Day association is largely Victorian, formalised in the 19th-century “language of flowers” (floriography), in which different flowers and colours encoded specific romantic meanings. A single red rose meant “I love you”; a dozen meant complete devotion.
Most Western countries observe February 14. Eastern Orthodox countries with Julian-calendar traditions, such as Romania, also have Dragobete (February 24) as a separate native love festival. Brazil celebrates Dia dos Namorados on June 12 (the eve of St Anthony, the matchmaker saint). South Korea has three monthly variants: February 14 (women give chocolate), March 14 (White Day — men reciprocate), and April 14 (Black Day — singles eat jajangmyeon).