Come February and the love birds all over the world come out in the open, candy, flowers and gifts are exchanged between these love birds and all this is done in the name of St. Valentines Day.

What is this St. Valentines Day all about and why do the love birds exchange gifts and let their heart out to all their loved ones on this day?

There are many who know about it and there are many who are not aware about it and there are many who are not bothered about it but are happy that they have such a great day to celebrate with their loved ones.

As time passes by the history of Valentine's Day and its patron saint is shrouded in mystery. We all know that the month of February is a month of romance. It has come into existence due to the vestiges of Christian and ancient Roman tradition.

So the big question is that who was St. Valentine and how did he become associated with this?

There have been many legends about this one of the legend contends that Valentine was a priest during the third century in Rome. During that time the emperor of Rome was Claudius II, the emperor decided that single man made better soldiers, hence he outlawed marriage for young single men. Valentine defied the emperor and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. One day the emperor came to know about Valentine's actions through his secret service. The Emperor ordered to put Valentine to death.

There is one more story which suggest that Valentine may have been killed for helping Christians escape Roman prisons where the Christians were often beaten and tortured.

Another legend suggests that Valentine fell in love with a young girl while he was in prison. The young girl happened to be the jailor's daughter who visited during his confinement. Valentine had actually sent the first 'VALENTINE' greeting himself while in prison. It is said that before his death he wrote her a letter which he signed as "From you Valentine", this expression is still in use today.

The truth behind these legends is quite gloomy but one thing is common that all the stories suggest that Valentine was a sympathetic, heroic and a romantic person. Later on Valentine became one of the most popular saints in England and France.

St. Valentine's death occurred around 270 A.D., many believe that to commemorate the death anniversary of St. Valentine, Valentine's Day is celebrated. There are others who claim that the Christian Church decided to celebrate Valentine's day in an effort to christianize celebrations of the pagan Lupercalia festival.

In ancient Rome, February was the official beginning of spring and was considered a time for purification. Houses were ritually cleansed by sweeping them out and then sprinkling salt and a type of wheat called spelt throughout their interiors. Lupercalia, which began at the ides of February, February 15, was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at the sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would then sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. The boys then sliced the goat's hide into strips, dipped them in the sacrificial blood and took to the streets, gently slapping both women and fields of crops with the goathide strips. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed being touched with the hides because it was believed the strips would make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would then each choose a name out of the urn and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.

Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day around 498 A.D. The Roman 'lottery' system for romantic pairing was deemed un-Christian and outlawed. Later, during the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds' mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of February -- Valentine's Day -- should be a day for romance.

The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. The greeting, which was written in 1415, can be viewed today at the British Museum in London, England. Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.