What is Valentine's Day ? Why do we celebrate it ?

Valentine's Day 14 February

What is Valentine's Day? St Valentine's Day is an annual festival to celebrate romantic love, friendship and admiration. Every year on 14 February people celebrate this day by sending messages of love and affection to partners, family and friends. Couples send Valentine's Day cards and flowers and spend special time together to honour their love for each other.

The Early History of Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is named after Saint Valentine, a Catholic priest who lived in Rome in the 3rd Century. There are many stories about St Valentine and over time these stories grew into the legend we know today.

At the time of Valentine's life, many Romans were converting to Christianity, but the Emperor Claudius II was a pagan and created strict laws about what Christians were allowed to do. Claudius believed that Roman soldiers should be completely devoted to Rome and therefore passed a law preventing them from marrying. St Valentine began to marry these soldiers in secret Christian ceremonies and this was the beginning of his reputation for believing in the importance of love.

Eventually Valentine was found out and jailed for his crimes against Claudius. While imprisoned, Valentine cared for his fellow prisoners and also his jailor's blind daughter. Legend has it that Valentine cured the girl's blindness and that his final act before being executed was to write her a love message signed ‘from your Valentine'. Valentine was executed on 14 February in the year 270.

How did Valentine's Day develop?

It wasn't until more than 200 years later that 14 February was proclaimed St Valentine's Day. By this time Rome had become Christian and the Catholic Church was determined to stamp out any remaining paganism. A pagan fertility ritual was held in February each year and the Pope abolished this festival and proclaimed 14 February Saint Valentine's Day, thus establishing this feast day on the Catholic Calendar of Saints.

The poet Chaucer in the Middle Ages was the first to link St Valentine with romantic love. This was the beginning of the tradition of courtly love, a ritual of expressing love and admiration, usually in secret. This custom spread throughout Europe and stories grew about a High Court of Love where female judges would rule on issues related to love on 14 February each year. Historians believe that these meetings were in fact gatherings where people read love poetry and played games of flirtation.

Valentine's Day Symbols

The practice of sending love messages developed into people sending special cards expressing their affection. These cards were beautiful creations handmade by the sender and individually designed to show how much they loved the recipient. Cards would usually contain sentimental verse, proclaiming the beauty of the receiver and how much they were loved.

Saint Valentine's Day cards were decorated with pictures of cupid, hearts and flowers and trimmed with lace and ribbon. These images are still used today to symbolise love and are recognised all over the world.

What is Valentine's Day in Contemporary Times?

While Valentine's Day is celebrated in most countries, different cultures have developed their own traditions for this festival. In some parts of the world Valentine's Day is observed as a day for expressing love between family members and friends, rather than that of romantic couples. Some traditions include leaving lollies and gifts for children and others include acts of appreciation between friends.

Valentine's Day is most commonly associated with romantic love, with millions of Valentine's Day cards being exchanged each year. Gifts of flowers or a single red rose are sent with romantic messages to loved ones and couples spend special time together. Valentine's Day gift hampers are also a popular gift and typically include flowers, champagne and chocolates.

Many couples choose to celebrate Valentine's Day with dinner, a picnic or special home-cooked meal. Many restaurants offer Valentine's Day dinner promotions and food is often presented with symbols of love like hearts and flowers. Another popular Valentine's Day activity is to indulge in a luxury hotel stay in a beautiful location, allowing a couple to get away from it all and enjoy some quality time together. Marriage proposals are also popular on Valentine's Day, and it is often chosen as the perfect day to express their love and commitment. Some marriage proposals are delivered very creatively, such as after climbing to the top of a mountain, or posting a message on a billboard. Whatever the method, marriage proposals made on Valentine's Day are generally romantic and memorable.

Spoil your loved one at work or home with a Roses Only Valentine's Day romantic arrangement of flowers or a gourmet gift hamper.

A Valentine's Day gift hamper is the ultimate gift, with flowers, champagne and chocolates to delight your love.

History of feb 14

1778 - The Stars and Stripes was carried to a foreign port, in France, for the first time. It was aboard the American ship Ranger. 

1803 - Moses Coates received a patent for the apple parer. 

1849 - The first photograph of a U.S. President, while in office, was taken by Matthew Brady in New York City. President James Polk was the subject of the picture. 

1859 - Oregon became the 33rd member of the Union. 

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell filed an application for a patent for the telephone. It was officially issued on March 7, 1876. 

1889 - In Los Angeles, CA, oranges began their first trip to the east. 

1895 - Oscar Wilde's final play, "The Importance of Being Earnest," opened at the St. James' Theatre in London. 

1899 - The U.S. Congress approved voting machines for use in federal elections. 

1900 - Russia imposed tighter imperial control over Finland in response to an international petition for Finland's freedom. 

1900 - In South Africa, British Gen. Roberts invaded Orange Free State with 20,000 troops. 

1903 - The U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor was established. 

1912 - The first diesel engine submarine was commissioned in Groton, CT. 

1912 - Arizona was admitted as the 48th U.S. state. 

1920 - The League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago. The first president of the organization was Maude Wood Park. 

1929 - The "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" took place in Chicago, IL. Seven gangsters who were rivals of Al Capone were killed. 

1932 - The U.S. won the first bobsled competition at the Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid, NY. 

1940 - The first porpoise born in captivity arrived at Marineland in Florida. 

1945 - Peru, Paraguay, Chile and Ecuador joined the United Nations. 

1946 - ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was unveiled. The device, built at the University of Pennsylvania, was the world's first general purpose electronic computer. 

1954 - The TV show "Letter to Loretta" changed its name to "The Loretta Young Show." The show premiered on September 20, 1953. 

1957 - Lionel Hampton’s only major musical work, "King David," made its debut at New York’s Town Hall. 

1961 - Lawrencium, element 103, was first produced in Berkely, CA. 

1962 - U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy gave a tour of the White House on television. 

1966 - Rick Mount of Lebanon, IN, became the first high school, male athlete to be pictured on the cover of "Sports Illustrated". 

1966 - Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia 76ers set a National Basketball Association (NBA) record as he reached a career high of 20,884 points after seven seasons. 

1968 - The fourth Madison Square Gardens opened. 

1979 - Twenty-year-old rookie, Don Maloney, of the New York Rangers, scored his first goal in the National Hockey League. It came on his first NHL shot. 

1979 - Adolph Dubs, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped in Kabul by Muslim extremists. He was killed in a shootout between his abductors and police. 

1980 - Walter Cronkite announced his retirement from the "CBS Evening News." 

1983 - A 6-year-old boy became the first person to receive a heart and liver transplants in the same operation. 

1985 - Cable News Network (CNN) reporter Jeremy Levin was freed. He had been being held in Lebanon by extremists. 

1989 - Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini called on Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie because of his novel "The Satanic Verses." 

1989 - The first satellite of the Global Positioning System was placed into orbit around Earth. 

1989 - Union Carbide agreed to pay $470 million to the government of India. The court-ordered settlement was a result of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak disaster. 

1997 - Astronauts on the space shuttle Discovery began a series of spacewalks that were required to overhaul the Hubble Space Telescope. 

1998 - U.S. authorities officially announced that Eric Rudolph was a suspect in a bombing of an abortion clinic in Alabama. 

2002 - The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Shays-Meehan bill. The bill, if passed by the U.S. Senate, would ban millions of unregulated money that goes to the national political parties. 

2002 - Sylvester Stallone filed a lawsuit against Kenneth Starr. The suit alleged that Starr had given bad advice about selling Planet Hollywood stock. 

2003 - In Madrid, Spain, a ceramic plate with a bullfighting motif painted by Pablo Picasso in 1949 was stolen from an art show. The plate was on sale for $12,400. 

2005 - The video-sharing website YouTube was activated. 

History Of Medaram Sammakka Sarakka Jatara

Sammakka Saralamma Jatara or Medaram Jatara is a tribal festival of honouring the goddesses celebrated in the state of Telangana, India.The Jatra begins at Medaram in Tadvai Mandal in Warangal district. It commemorates the fight of a mother and daughter, Sammakka and Saralamma, with the reigning rulers against an unjust law. It is believed that after Kumbha Mela, the Medaram jatara attracts the largest number of devotees in the country. An estimated 10 million people gathered in 2012

It is celebrated in Medaram during the time the goddesses of the tribals is believed to visit them. Medaram is a remote place in the Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary, a part of Dandakaranya, the largest surviving forest belt in the Deccan.

Ritual:-

Sammakka Sarakka Jatara is the time for the largest tribal religious congregation in the world, held every two years (biennually), with approximately ten million people converging on the place, over a period of four days, which is 90 km from Warangal city. The Sammakka Sarakka Jatra is a State Festival of Govt. of Telangana. Many tribal Devotees from different states of India (M.P, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Karnataka and parts of Jharkhand)reach to the festive place to celebrate the Jatara.

People offer bangaram/gold (jaggeryto their weight to the goddesses and take holy bath in Jampanna Vagu (stream).It is a festival with no vedic or brahmanic influence.

Until 1998, the only way to reach Medaram was by a bullock cart. In 1998 the state government declared the 1000-yr old festival as official and laid down a motorable road.

In 2008, nearly 8 million people were estimated to have attended the festival.And in recent times the gatherings in the jatara are roughly near 10 million. This fair is said to be the largest repeating congregation of tribal communities in the world. The traffic jam during the festival sometimes goes as far as 60 km on the Warangal highway.

In 2012, approximately 1 crore people would attend the world's largest tribal festival.

Jampanna Vaagu:-

Jampanna vagu is a tributary to River Godavari. According to the history, Jampanna is the tribal warrior and the son of Tribal Goddess Sammakka. The Jampanna vagu took his name as he died in a battle fighting against Kakatiyan Army in that stream .The Jampanna vagu is still red in colour marked with the blood of Jampanna (Scientifically the red colour of the water is attributed to the soil composition). Tribal's believe that taking a holy dip in the red water of Jampanna Vagu reminds them the sacrifice of their gods who save them and also induces courage into their souls.

There is a bridge constructed on top of Jampanna Vagu, known as Jampanna Vagu bridge.

Origin of Jatara (History,Mythology):-

There are many legends about the miraculous powers of sammakka .According to a tribal story, about 6-7 centuries ago,that is in the 13th century, some tribal leaders who went for a hunting found a new born girl (Sammakka) emitting enormous light playing amidst tigers. She was taken to their habitation . The head of the tribe adopted her and brought up as a chief tain (She later became the saviour of the tribals of the region) she was married to Pagididda Raju a feudatory tribal chief of Kakatiyas(who ruled the country of Andhra from Warangal City between 1000 AD and 1380 AD).She was blessed with 2 daughters and one son namely Sarakka, Nagulamma and Jampanna respectively.

After sometime, there was a severe drought that lasted for years and as a result the mighty Godavari River dried up.pagedde Raju didn't pay tribute to King Pratapa Rudra. In turn king Pratapa rudra sent his army to subdue the tribals and collect the tribute. Then a War was fought between tribal chief pagidde Raju and Kakatiya army on the banks of "Sampenga Vagu" (Jampanna Vagu). The Koya army fought valiantly but could not with stand the well equipped Kakatiya army. Though fought valiantly Pagididda Raju, his daughters Sarakka, Nagulamma, son in law Govinda Raju lost (husband of Sarakka) lives in the battle. Later Jampanna also dies in Sampenga Vagu (after renamed as Jampanna Vagu in the memory of his heroic fight against well trained Kakatiya army). .

Upon hearing this news Sammakka also enters war and fights and causes lot of damage to kakatiya army. Surprised by her Bravery And Valour the Kakatiya Prime Minister visited war ravaged Koya kingdom with proposal of peace and offered Sammakka a place in the emperor’s harem as the chief queen. Samakka turned down the offer and resolved to continue the fight to avenge the dead.  The battle continued and Sammakka was seriously wounded . Samakka told her people that as long as they remembered her, she would protect them.Then, she cursed the Kaktiya dynasty to perish  And with that wounded body proceeded towards Chilakala gutta and disappeared  in the forest.  The grieving Koyas searched for their queen all they found were a red ochre box(a container of vermilion), her  bangles … and the pug marks of a huge full grown tigress, exactly the same place where she was found as a infant by the koyas. The Kakatiya dynasty came to an end very soon. Since then the Koyas, Waddaras and other Indian tribes and castes have been holding festivals in memory of Sammakka and Sarakka regularly .

Historical significance of the place Dandakaranya :-

This is the place whereLord Sri Rama along with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana made their abode for a while during  their  14-year exile in the forest.  It is here that Lakshmana cut off the ears and nose of Surpanakha, sister of Emperor Ravana of Sri Lanka.It is here that  Rama killed maricha and destroyed 14-thousand strong infantry of Khara, Dushana and Trisira. History behind the Dandakaranya forest: Ikshvaku was the ruler of the kingdom that extended from Vindhya Mountains to Himalaya Mountains. He had hundred sons, among them Danda (danDa) on whose name this uninhabitable forest was called as dandakaranya. (Uttara Ramayana).  Telangana State falls into dandakaranya area.

Medaram Jatara 2016:-

The upcoming Jathara is being organized during 17-20 Feb 2016 and all the arrangements are being underway to welcome the estimated 20 million visitors. People from Telangana, AP, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, MP, Maharastra, Karnataka etc. participate in the event.

Medaram Jatara has become the largest human congregation at a single place. People from all walks of life participate in the festival, viz., rural and urban, tribal and nontribal, educated and uneducated, women and men, children and elders etc. Though it’s called as tribal festival, more than 80% of the visitors are non tribal.

The upcoming Jathara is the first one after the formation of Telangana state and it takes greater significance with special attention by the government. Huge ground with a radius of 10 km is prepared to accommodate the visitors with all the basic arrangements to facilitate the Jathara. Facilities like roads, water, sanitation, health and hygiene are being provided by the government by spending several hundreds of crores (INR). The total expenditure exceeds Rs.250 crores by the government for the Jathara.

The Jathara is being advertised through large scale publicity by the government and its various departments like Telangana Tourism and others. The regional broadcasters telecast several news and features about the Jathara, prior to the commencement of it. During the JAthara period, most of the broadcasters beam live telecasting that spans long durations.

The Jathara venue is situated at 250 km from Hyderabad and about 100 km from Warangal. The State Transport Corporation is deploying 4000 buses for plying the visitors, with a total capacity to carry four million passengers. More than one lakh private vehicles are expected to render their services for the Jathara.

Events for Feb-13 in History

13-February-1601	John Lancaster leads 1st East India Company voyage from London.
13-February-1713	Farrukh Siyar becomes Emperor
13-February-1713	Sultan Jahandar Shah was strangled to death. Farrukhsiyar captured the throne of Delhi from Jahandar Shah with the assistance of two Sayyid brothers.
13-February-1719	Jahandar Shah was strangled to death and the Sayyid brothers were killed soon after.
13-February-1856	East India Company captured Lucknow along with Avadh Kingdom.
13-February-1861	Colonel Bernard Irwin attacks & defeats hostile Chiricahua Indians.
13-February-1879	Sarojini Naidu ""Nightingale of India"", was born at Hyderabad. She was the first Governor of Uttar Pradesh. She also holds a place of pride among the women freedom fighters of India. She presided over the Kanpur session of Indian National Congress and took active part in Salt Satyagraha and represented Indian women in Round Table Conference, London, 193
13-February-1922	The Indian National Congress suspends its civil disobedience campaign in the face of mounting violence.
13-February-1936	Dinsha Wachha, great Industrialist and social worker, passed away at Mumbai.
13-February-1945	Vinod Mehra, famous Hindi film actor, was born.
13-February-1968	Atal Bihari Vajpayee elected President of the All India Jan Sangha.
13-February-1969	Subroto Tara Banerjee, cricketer (Indian quickie & Dennis Lillee protegee), was born in Patna.
13-February-1970	Man-eating tiger is reported to have killed 48 people at a village 80-km from New Delhi.
13-February-1977	Jasawant Singh, famous physiologist, passed away.
13-February-1984	Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister, inaugurated the first manufacturing work of Indian Submarines at Mazgaon Dock, Bombay.
13-February-1989	Aubrey Menen (76), Renowned writer, passed away in Kerala.
13-February-1991	Muslim League leaves the UDF in Kerala.
13-February-1991	Surjit Singh Barnala resigns as Governor of Tamil Nadu.
13-February-1993	School collapses killing 21 pupils and 4 teachers.
13-February-1994	Troops moved to Uttar Pradesh to quell caste violence.
13-February-1994	Yashwant Narsingh Kelkar, senior historian and journalist in Maharashtra, passed away.
13-February-1994	Dr. Krishnaprasad Mishra, 'Sahitya Academy Award' winner, Oria novelist and short story writer, passed away.
13-February-1997	Deve Gowda, PM, dedicates the Rs. 3200-crore 480 MW Uri hydel project in north Kashmir to the nation.
13-February-1998	India signs two agreements with the U.N. Development Fund for a $13.75-million grant for food security and environment support.
13-February-1999	The 5th National Games were inaugurated by President K.R. Narayanan in Imphal.