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Hey everyone and welcome back to
the Understandable English 

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Podcast. 
My name is Oliver and today we 

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are going to talk about 
Valentine's Day. 

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So what is Valentine's Day and 
how do people celebrated in the 

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UK and maybe in other countries 
around the world? 

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So at its core, this special day
is all about love and we will 

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look at its origins. 
So it's beginning why it became 

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a thing and some sweet 
traditions. 

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It's interesting because I think
in the past Valentine's Day was 

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not so big everywhere, but 
looking around it seems to be 

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somewhat in every part of the 
world, even if it is still not 

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super important in some cultures
and countries. 

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But of course, as we know, the 
world has become a much smaller 

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place, and ideas and traditions 
now spread so they move across 

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the world at a rate faster than 
ever before. 

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So what is Valentine's Day? 
Basically, Valentine's Day is a 

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day to celebrate love and 
affection between people every 

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year. 
It takes place on the 14th of 

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February, but it doesn't have to
be celebrated exactly on the 

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14th of February. 
It can be on another day quite 

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close, and this is a day when 
people express their feelings to

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those that they care about. 
You will probably see a lot of 

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red hearts and Flyers and sweet 
treats everywhere. 

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So let's quickly look at perhaps
the origins of the beginning of 

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Saint Valentine's Day. 
And people often will wonder who

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is Valentine? 
Who is Saint Valentine? 

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To be honest, the history of 
Valentine's Day is quite 

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mysterious. 
It is quite unclear, but one 

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legend suggests that it is named
after a Christian St. named St. 

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Valentine. 
He lived a long time ago and 

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there are different stories 
about his kindness and how he 

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helped people that were in love.
But if I look at some of the 

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historical sources, particularly
with the Encyclopedia 

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Britannica, which is a big 
source for history information 

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in the UK, they say that the 
origins of Valentine's Day may 

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have came from a Roman festival 
called Lupricalia. 

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That is probably not how to say 
it, but it's a Roman festival 

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which was held in mid February. 
This festival was to celebrate 

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the arrival, so the coming of 
spring, and it included 

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fertility rights and pairing of 
woman with men. 

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So matching couples together 
saying yes, you go with her, you

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go with him, you're a good 
couple. 

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And some people believe that 
apparently at the end of the 5th

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century, the Pope at the time to
the head of the Catholic Church,

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the boss of the Catholic Church,
he banned this, this 

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celebration, this festival. 
He said no, you can't do this 

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anymore. 
And he sometimes people now say 

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that he replaced that festival 
with Saint Valentine's Day. 

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But in general, Valentine's Day 
was not celebrated as a day of 

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romance. 
So love until about 700 years 

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ago. 
So to be totally honest, no one 

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really knows the true history of
Saint Valentine's Day. 

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So how it started? 
But what we do know is that this

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day is very popular in countries
such as the United States, 

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Britain, Canada and Australia 
and it's other seller. 

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It's also celebrated in other 
countries including Argentina, 

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France, Mexico and South Korea. 
So there is no doubt that this 

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holiday where celebration has 
spread or moved across the 

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world. 
So what are some things that 

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people do on Valentine's Day? 
Well, one thing is expressing 

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love with a greeting card. 
So a greeting card is a piece of

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card or paper which will have a 
nice message inside and often 

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people will write a poem or a 
cute message of love and it's a 

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way of sharing your feelings of 
love and affection for someone. 

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And this card usually comes with
a gift like chocolates or 

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Flyers. 
And yeah, it is usually just a 

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way of showing physically that 
you love someone. 

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Of course, in my opinion, one of
the reasons as to why this 

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holiday is so popular is because
it makes a lot of money for 

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businesses because people buy 
lots of gifts for their partners

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and they take them to 
restaurants or events and the 

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economy really benefits from 
this holiday. 

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So it is in my opinion less of a
holiday about love and more of a

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holiday about spending money. 
Another way people express their

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love is through roses. 
So we mentioned Flyers and one 

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of the Valentine's traditions is
to give Flyers, especially red 

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roses as these are a symbol of 
love and passion. 

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So a strong love and care for 
someone. 

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People will also plan romantic 
dinners or a surprise for their 

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loved ones. 
It's about showing appreciation 

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so that you care about someone 
that is close to you. 

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It is important to know that 
Valentine Valentine's Day is not

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just for couples. 
It isn't just for romantic love.

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It can also be to celebrate 
friendships. 

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You can give a gift or exchange 
cards with your friends to show 

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them that you care as well. 
It isn't all about a husband or 

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a wife or a partner, it can be 
about those that you care about 

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around you. 
And finally, I think sometimes 

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planning a simple Valentine's 
Day can be the best. 

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SO celebrating it, but keeping 
it simple. 

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You can have a cosy evening at 
home, cook a nice meal, watch a 

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romantic movie, and spend some 
quality time together. 

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Ultimately, with holidays like 
this, it's the most important 

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part is not what you buy or 
exactly what you do. 

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It is showing the other person 
or the people around you that 

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you care about them, showing 
that you've thought about them 

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and you've made plans or put in 
the effort to show that you 

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care. 
And that's why I think it can be

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a really good holiday, just to 
remind people to show that they 

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care. 
But you don't have to do this on

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Valentine's Day. 
And that's the amazing thing is 

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this is a holiday. 
But any of the things that you 

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do on this holiday you can do 
any time. 

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And to be honest, it will 
probably mean a lot more if you 

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do it at a time that is outside 
of Valentine's Day. 

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But thank you for listening to 
this episode of the podcast. 

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I hope that you have an amazing 
Valentine's Day. 

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No matter how you celebrate it, 
whether you are alone or with 

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loved ones, I hope you have a 
relaxing day. 

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And if you are alone on 
Valentine's Day, then treat and 

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love yourself. 
Buy yourself something nice, 

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cook yourself a nice meal or get
some nice food and relax. 

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Enjoy your evening, have a 
lovely rest of the day and I 

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will see you in the next episode
of the podcast. 

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Goodbye.