This week, all over the world, many people celebrated Valentine’s Day. For many people, this is a special day to celebrate and enjoy love with a boyfriend or girlfriend, with a husband or wife, or with someone you just like a lot. There are no rules for who you can enjoy your Valentine’s Day with.

In Japan, the custom before was for women to give chocolates to men. But in the rest of the world, the custom is for men to give chocolates to women. And sometimes not only chocolates, but also flowers, or a nice letter or poem, or a romantic dinner in a nice restaurant.

Recently, for many people, Valentine’s Day is also a time to give a small gift, or note, or card to a friend. This is also nice, but sometimes at schools Valentines Day can make some trouble, or some unhappy communication, so for students at school it is not a custom to celebrate. That is very reasonable, but let’s also talk about where Valentine’s Day comes from.

What is the history of Valentine’s Day.

The history is not 100% clear, but there are stories about a man named “Valentine”. That was his real name. And Valentine was someone who was in the church and there are stories about how he helped people. Unfortunately, he was killed by Roman soldiers and we only have some stories about his life as a magical healer.

But the legend of Valentine continued. In the U.K., people believed that a magical person, like Santa Claus, came to homes and gave treats and snacks to poor people. It was from this story that people began to exchange chocolates with friends and people they love on February 14th.

Indeed, there are many different stories about this magical “Saint Valentine” and we do not know what is true from long ago. But what we do know, is that February 14th is a celebration of love, and that this idea of love is not only a feeling between two people. There are, in fact, many forms and kinds of love.

The Ancient Greeks believed that there were eight different kinds of love.

The first is “Philia” love. This is the love of deep friendships.
The second is “Pragma” love. This is the love that grows slowly over a long time.
The third is “Stoge” love. This love is the love between parents and children.
The fourth is “Eros” love. This is the love of romance.
The fifth is “Ludus” love. This is a love of laughing and thinking about love.
The sixth is “Mania” love. This is a dangerous kind of love when you can think only about the person you love so, so much. Wow. Be careful!
The seventh is “Philautia” love. This is the love of yourself. To take care and to heal yourself.
The eighth is “Agape” love. This love is the highest kind of love. It is the love for every person, and a love for every thing.

As humans, we feel different kinds of love as we grow older. When you were a child you loved your parents and family members and people around you. When you are a junior high school student or a high school student, love is different. You love friends. You love pets. You love family. And you develop and grow new feelings as well. Sometimes it is wonderful. And sometimes it feels strange.

And when you are older your feelings of love will deepen and grow. Maybe they will always be the same. Maybe they will change. It is difficult to know what will happen to feelings we have now, and love is sometimes very difficult and confusing. Even if you do not know how you feel sometimes, you should know that in this school, and in this place you are someone that is important, and that people love you.

Maybe it’s a good idea not to worry too much about love right now. You have tests coming soon. I am sure that you do not love having tests, but you will love your feeling when you are finished and you can feel free.