It's centered on romance and is a heavily commercialized holiday as well.

During this time of year, married couples, partners, and sweethearts are encouraged to go out to dinner, spend some romantic time together and generally acknowledge the importance of one another in each other's lives.

This holiday is celebrated on February 14th every year.

Valentine's Day is associated with a particular type of love from the High Middle Ages.

Do you know what that type of love is called?

We'll show you the answer at the end of this video.

Valentine's Day is, among other things, a day when one partner is encouraged to essentially court their partner as they would before they were dating or married.

Presenting a wife, lover, or girlfriend or boyfriend with flowers, candy, and other romantic gifts is a huge part of Valentine's Day traditions in the United States.

During this particular holiday, the most romantic restaurants in any city will generally be booked solid.

Valentine's Day is very important commercially in the United States, due to the traditional gifts that sweethearts and married couples give one another.

This is particularly true of the floral industry, as giving one special someone red roses on this day is more or less expected.

Clothing, jewelry, food, and other items are also popularly given to sweethearts and spouses on this day.

For some couples, Valentine's Day is when one member of the couple goes overboard to spoil the other and is delighted to do so.

Valentine's Day celebrations can be very innocent in addition to being romantic.

In schools in the United States, children are quite frequently encouraged to make and exchange valentines, more as gestures of friendship than anything else.

This allows everybody to get in on the fun.

In some cases, people in the United States who are currently single will do something special for a friend who means a great deal to them and to whom they want to express affection, even though it's not romantic affection.

Valentine's Day cards are among the most impressive pieces of artwork associated with this holiday.

Antique Valentine's Day cards can fetch handsome prices from collectors due to their intricacy and their sometimes very imaginative artwork.

And now here's the answer to the quiz.

Do you know what type of love is associated with Valentine's Day from the High Middle Ages?

Valentine's Day has strong associations with what was called courtly love in the High Middle Ages.

This was a highly ritualized form of romantic love where each partner was expected to do particular things to express their appreciation for one another.

How is this lesson? Did you learn something interesting?

What Valentine's Day traditions exist in your country, if any?

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