Valentine's Day goes as far back as 270 AD and came fromcelebrations from ancient Christian and Romans. One legend tellsthat the holiday began from the Roman festival of Lupercalia, afertility celebration, but when Christianity took over paganholidays were renamed for early Christians martyrs. In 496 AD thepope turned Lupercalia into a Christian feast day. He proclaimedthat it was to honor of Saint Valentine a Roman martyr from the 3rdcentury. According to the Catholic encyclopedia there were threeearly Christian saints by the name of Valentine. One was a priestin Rome and another was a bishop in Terri. Nothing is known aboutthe third except he died in Africa. The story of Saint Valentine isabout a bishop who held secret marriage ceremonies of soldiers inClaudius II who banned marriage for young men. He felt thatmarriage made men weak and Valentine was arrested for performingthe marriages and excecuted. Thus, February 14 became a day forlovers and was annually observed by young Romans. In medievalFrance and England it was believed that birds mated on February 14and the image of birds became the symbol of lovers in poemsdedicated to the day. By the 18th century Valentines Day had becomecommon in England and handmade Valentine cards, ribbons, and heartswere created. This spread to the American colonies, but it wasn'tuntil 1840 that greeting cards were sold in the United States.