在罗马，据说情人节源自于5世纪，是为了纪念天主教的传教士瓦伦丁。

                    St.Valentine

At that time, Claudius determined that married men made poor soldiers. So he banned marriage from his empire. But Valentine would secretly marry young men that came to him.

 那时，克劳迪亚斯王坚信已婚男人是无用的战士，因此在他的王国内禁止结婚。但是瓦伦丁却秘密地给那些来找他的年轻人主持婚礼。

 Claudius

So Valentine was imprisoned because he secretly married couples, contrary to the laws of the Roman emperor. Some legends say he was burned at the stake.

因为他秘密给别人主持婚礼，触犯了当时罗马帝国的法律，因此被投进监狱。传说他是被绑在火刑柱上烧死的。

During the days that Valentine was imprisoned, he fell in love with the blind daughter of his jailer. His love for her, and his great faith, managed to miraculously heal her from her blindness before his death. Before he was taken to his death, he signed a farewell message to her,“From your Valentine.” The phrase has been used on his day ever since.

瓦伦丁在被囚禁的日子里，与监狱看守失明的女儿相爱了。临终前，他对她的爱和极度的忠诚竟然奇迹般地治好了她的眼睛。在他被押赴刑场之前，他在给她的诀别信中，签下了“你的瓦伦丁”。从那以后这句话一直被沿用至今。

                           Valentine and his lover

The first Valentine card grew out of this practice. The first true Valentine card was sent in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London at the time.

第一张情人节卡片就是在这种情况下诞生的。1415年，奥尔良公爵查尔斯将第一张真正的情人节卡片送给了他的妻子。那时，他正被关在伦敦塔内。

          Charles, Duke of Orleans

Another legend goes as follows. For eight hundred years prior to the establishment of Valentine's Day, the Romans had practiced a pagan celebration in mid-February commemorating young men's rite of passage to the god Lupercus. The celebration featured a lottery in which young men would draw the names of teenage girls from a box. The girl assigned to each young man in that manner would be his female companion during the remaining year.

另一种说法是这样的：在情人节确立前800年，罗马人就已经有了一项在2月中旬举行的异教徒庆典活动，年轻人通过庆典来纪念卢帕克斯神。这项庆典的特点是进行抽签，让年轻的男子从盒子里抽取十几岁少女的名字。通过这种方式分配给每一位年轻男子的女孩就成了他那一年的女伴。

 

In an effort to do away with the pagan festival, Pope Gelasius ordered a slight change in the lottery. Instead of the names of young women, the box would contain the names of saints. Both men and women were allowed to draw from the box, and the game was to emulate the ways of the saint they drew during the rest of the year. Needless to say, many of the young Roman men were not too pleased with the rule changes.

为了废除这个异教的节日，罗马教皇盖拉西厄斯命令抽签活动必须稍作改动：盒子里面装的不再是年轻女孩的名字，而是圣徒的名字。男人和女人都可以从盒子里抽签，游戏的目的是让他们在本年度里仿效他们所抽到的圣徒的行为方式。毫无疑问，很多罗马的年轻人并不喜欢这种规则的改变。

 

Instead of the pagan god Lupercus, the Church looked for a suitable patron saint of love to take his place. They found an appropriate choice in Valentine, who, in AD 270 were beheaded by Emperor Claudius.

教会决定寻找一位更适合的爱的守护神来代替异教的卢帕克斯神。他们发现瓦伦丁是是一个非常恰当的人选，他于公元270年被克劳迪亚斯王斩首。

Although the lottery for women had been banned by the church, the mid-February holiday in commemoration of St. Valentine was stilled used by Roman men to seek the affection of women. It became a tradition for the men to give the ones they admired handwritten messages of affection, containing Valentine's name.

虽然抽签得女伴的活动已经被教会禁止，但罗马的男人依旧利用二月中旬这个纪念瓦伦丁的节日来追求女人的爱情。男人将他们手写的情书签上瓦伦丁的名字，然后送给他们所爱慕的女人，这逐渐演变成了一种传统。

In AD 496 Saint Pope Gelasius I named February 14 as “Valentine's Day”. Although it's not an official holiday, most Americans observe this day.

在公元496年，圣徒罗马教皇盖拉西厄斯一世把2月14日命名为“瓦伦丁节”（情人节）。虽然这不是一个官方节日，但大数美国人都很重视这一天。

 

 

Whatever the odd mixture of origins, St.Valentine's Day is now a day for sweethearts. You can send candy to someone who is special to you. Or you can send roses, the flower of love.

无论渊源有多么复杂，情人节如今已是情侣们的节日。这是你用来向心上人表达情意的日子。你可以把糖果送给对你来说很特别的人，也可以给送上一束爱情花朵--玫瑰。

                                 

                                              kwd