St. Valentine’s Day

St. Valentine’s day is a Catholic feast, but over the past few years it has become quite popular in Bulgaria as well. The celebration of this day is dated back to Roman times and has to do with the pagan traditions in honour of the gods Pan and Yunona. Very little is known about St. Valentine. According to one of the popular stories about him, during the ruling of the Roman emperor Claudius, a lot of men refused to join the army as volunteers, because they did not want to leave their loved ones and their families. Claudius decided to ban marriage, hoping the number of volunteers in the army would increase. Then, Valentine, who was a priest, began to secretly wed the couples who were in love. Of course, he was caught and executed on February 14 269 by the authorities, who accused him of inducement. Even after more than a hundred years had passed, however, people continued to remember Valentine's deeds and his words, and proclaimed him as a saint and patron of all who are in love.