Happy valentines

Hi friends,

As you know, it is Valentine’s Day on February 14. Whatever is the reason, it is nice to celebrate one day for love.

 Saint Valentine's Day, also known as Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine,^[1] is observed on February 14 each year. It is celebrated in many countries around the world, although it remains a working day in most of them.

St. Valentine's Day began as a liturgical celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. Several martyrdom stories were invented for the various Valentines that belonged to February 14, and added to later martyrologies.^[2] A popular hagiographical account of Saint Valentine of Rome states that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire. According to legend, during his imprisonment, he healed the daughter of his jailer, Asterius. An embellishment to this story states that before his execution he wrote her a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a farewell.^[3] Today, Saint Valentine's Day is an official feast day in the Anglican Communion,^[4] as well as in the Lutheran Church.^[5] The Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrates Saint Valentine's Day, albeit on July 6 and July 30, the former date in honor of the Roman presbyter Saint Valentine, and the latter date in honor of Hieromartyr Valentine, the Bishop of Interamna (modern Terni). In Brazil, the Dia de São Valentim is recognized on June 12.

The day was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. In 18th-century England, it evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). Valentine's Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards.^[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day

In Iran, the Sepandarmazgan, or Esfandegan, is a festival where people express love towards their mothers and wives, and it is also a celebration of earth in ancient Persian culture.

Sepandārmazgān (Persian: سپندارمذگان‎) is a Zoroastrian festival.^[1] This day is dedicated to Spənta Ārmaiti (Avestan for "Holy Devotion", Spandārmad in Middle Persian, Persian: سپندارمذ‎ Spendārmad or Sepandarmaz), the Amesha Spenta who is given the domain of "earth". The date of the festival as observed in the Sassanid era was on the 5th day of the month Spandarmad.^[1] When the name of the day and the month of the day were the same, a "name-feast" celebration was always done.^[1] According to the testimony of al-Biruni, in the 11th century BC there was a festival when the names of the day and the month were the same. The deity Spandarmad protected the Earth and the "good, chaste and beneficent wife who loves her husband". According to him, the festival used to be dedicated to women, and men would make them "liberal presents", and the custom was still flourishing in some districts of Fahla.^[2]

jashan-e burzigarán (Festival of Agriculturists), is celebrated in Iran also in the 5th day of Spandarmad month (the Spandarmad day). People pray for good harvets, honor the deity of Earth Spandārmad, and put signs in doors to destroy evil spirits.^[3]

It is mostly set on the 29th day of Bahman in the Solar Hejri calendar introduced in 1925, corresponding to 18 February.