Why Do We Celebrate Valentine's Day?
The origins of Valentine's Day are unclear at best, but there is no shortage of theories. The most common is that Valentine’s Day named in honour of one or several Christian martyrs who various Roman emperors killed for multiple reasons upon February 14th. It’s rumored that one of the martyrs - Saint Valentine of Terni - may have been conducting marriages for young Roman soldiers to prevent them from being sent off to war.
More than 200 years later, in an effort to stamp out paganism, the Catholic Church proclaimed February 14th as St. Valentine’s Day. This took the place of a pagan fertility ritual, with the St. Valentine’s feast day taking its place in the Catholic Calendar of Saints.
By the 1800s, cards were being commercially produced in the United States and were primarily popularised by Hallmark, after which Valentine's was permanently etched into the annual calendar.
Fast forward to today, where over 18 million Valentine's cards are sent each year to mark the occasion in the UK. Sending a card in the UK has become near compulsory in some ways, given that one can send a card to family members, parents, partners, spouses, children or a host of other relations.
While we don't know for sure where Valentine's Day came from, Cardly is here to help you write and send beautiful, personalised Valentine’s Day cards to friends and loved ones. Cardly makes it easy to send Valentine's cards with a custom handwritten message and envelope, an actual stamp and prompt delivery across the UK and Europe.
I have sent a lot of cards with Cardly and every time, it has been a great lifesaver for me. I have bad handwriting, often mess up what I am writing as my brain and hand forget to communicate during the process, and to top it off, I live in the sticks where mail service is slower and there is no where to buy a nice card.
Cardly really takes the stress out of keeping in touch with loved ones, especially friends who live in different countries. It's so reasonably priced compared to cards in the store that I'm about to purchase a 10 pack. And I can schedule things ahead so I never miss my mother-in-law's birthday again :)
- Stace, US
