Vah Lend Tyne

Apparently, there's another holiday which is celebrated on the 14th of February - Singles Awareness Day (SAD). Singles congregate together in public places or in blog comment aisles and commiserate their status through greetings such as "Happy SAD!". Wikipedia deems it self-deprecating humour.

The association of the middle of February with love and fertility dates to ancient times. In the calendar of Ancient Athens, the period between mid January and mid February was the month of Gamelion, which was dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera.

The first recorded association of St. Valentine's Day with romantic love was in the 14th century in England and France, where February 14 was traditionally the day on which birds paired off to mate. This belief is mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer's Parlement of Foules (1381). It was common during that era for lovers to exchange notes on this day and to call each other their "Valentines". A 14th century valentine is said to be in the collection of the British Library. It is probable that many of the legends about St. Valentine were invented during this period.

There is no mention of Hallmark.

-Fin-