Every year on February 14, people around the world celebrate one of the most touching unofficial holidays – Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day has a history of more than 18 centuries. No wonder that for such an impressive stretch of time, lovers have developed many rules for its celebration, symbols and attributes.
The colors of this holiday are: red, symbolizing passion, and white, denoting the purity of love thoughts. Pink as a derivative of the main colors of Valentine’s Day is also welcomed in the choice of clothing and the purchase of gifts, and in the design of cards and greetings.
In addition to color correspondence to Valentine’s Day, the gift should symbolize love in one way or another – in the course go trinkets in the form of hearts, cupids or kissing birds. And sweets, which on this day to give to lovers must necessarily be placed in boxes in the shape of a heart.
And what about emoji? Today we will try to choose the most suitable emoticons from the standard set of Unicode, with which you can decorate and enhance any declaration of love and congratulations on Valentine’s Day.
A bit of a history
According to legend, the tradition of sending cards on this day was founded by a priest named Valentine (hence the name of cards – “valentines”). He lived in the distant times of early Christianity and had a reputation of an incorrigible romantic. He had a good heart and a good vocabulary. Valentine was very good at putting his thoughts on paper and used this talent to help illiterate Roman soldiers in love write love letters to the ladies of his heart.
Among other things, Valentine also, in defiance of imperial decree, secretly joined these soldiers in marriage to their beloved. And for this he suffered. He was arrested and thrown into prison. While awaiting execution, Valentine managed to fall in love with the jailer’s daughter and confess his feelings to her with the help of a note. Unfortunately, he never found out if his feelings were mutual. The girl received the heartfelt message after its author was beheaded. The day of execution fell on February 14 and formed the basis of a beautiful and romantic holiday – Valentine’s Day.
Valentine was canonized by the Catholic Church as a Christian martyr who suffered for the faith. In 496, Pope Gelasius declared February 14 as St. Valentine’s Day. Since 1969, as a result of the reform of worship, St. Valentine was removed from the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church (along with other Roman saints, information about whose lives is contradictory and unreliable). In Catholic churches, the feast of St. Cyril and Methodius is celebrated on February 14, and the veneration of St. Valentine is optional.
Main Symbols of St. Valentine’s Day
When February comes, everything around reminds us that the most romantic and the most beautiful holiday is approaching – Valentine’s Day, celebrated in almost every corner of the world on February 14. And just like other holidays, it has its own peculiarities, which can be summarized in the symbols of Valentine’s Day.
Symbolism of the holiday of this holiday appeared thanks to the established traditions of different peoples, the peculiarities of celebrating this day in this or that country. They include hearts, red roses, rings, cupids, doves, gloves, lace, chocolate and other symbols necessarily associated with love and romance.
Hearts are the most sensual and colorful, besides, the most common symbols of Valentine’s Day, which can take any form. They can be ubiquitous Valentine’s cards (the most popular symbol of February 14), chocolate, jewelry, gift boxes, and, of course, emoji.
Another symbol of February 14 is red roses. It is believed that red roses symbolize the most fiery and passionate feelings. But this does not mean that a gift for Valentine’s Day to a guy, girl or even a man can be only red roses, because each color has its own meaning. So, if you give white roses, they will tell about your pure love, yellow – about sincere friendship, pink hint that you want more from this person than just friendship. So, give roses on Valentine’s Day and let your loved ones or friends be happy.
St. Valentine’s Day Emojis
Based on the information given above, we can identify the emojis, which are most appropriate to use on this marvelous holiday, devoted to love, romance, and tenderness. We have chosen the most obvious and beautiful emoticons in the list below and have divided them in groups for your convenience.
The Hearts
Of course, the most important and popular symbol of St. Valentines Day is a heart. For this matter, the Unicode set of emojis offers a wide range of different hearts, starting from a traditional red one, and finishing with decorated hearts in red and pink. Let’s look closer.
The Scarlet Heart emoticon was assigned the code U+2764 U+FE0F, with which it was added to the Faces and Emotions section of Unicode Standard 1.1 in 1993.
♥️ The Hearts emoticon was assigned the code U+2665 U+FE0F, with which it was added to the Activities section of the Unicode 1.1 standard in 1993.
🩷 The Pink Heart emoticon was assigned the code U+1FA77, with which it was added to the Faces and Emotions section of Unicode Standard 15.0 in 2022.
❤️🔥 The Burning Heart emoticon was added to the Faces and Emotions section of the Emoji 13.1 standard in 2020.
💘 The Heart Pierced by an Arrow emoticon was assigned the code U+1F498, with which it was added to the Faces and Emotions section of the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010.
💖 The Sparkling Heart emoticon was assigned the code U+1F496, with which it was added to the Faces and Emotions section of the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010.
💗 The Growing Heart emoticon was assigned the code U+1F497, with which it was added to the Faces and Emotions section of the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010.
💓 The Pulsing Heart emoticon was assigned the code U+1F493, with which it was added to the Faces and Emotions section of the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010.
💞The Spinning Heart emoticon was assigned the code U+1F49E, with which it was added to the Faces and Emotions section of the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010.
💕 The Two Hearts emoticon was assigned the code U+1F495, with which it was added to the Faces and Emotions section of the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010.
❣️ The Exclamation Mark with a Heart emoticon was assigned the code U+2763 U+FE0F, with which it was added to the Faces and Emotions section of the Unicode 1.1 standard in 1993.
💟 The Heart icon has been assigned the code U+1F49F, with which it was added to the Faces and Emotions section of the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010.
The Smileys
Despite the fact that the heart is the main symbol of this romantic holiday, we are already used to using primarily emoji with the image of jaundiced faces. So below you have chosen the most suitable emoji for Valentine’s Day.
😍 The “Loving Face” emoticon was assigned the code U+1F60D, with which it was added to the Faces and Emotions section of the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010.
🥰 The Smiley Face with Hearts was assigned the code U+1F970, with which it was added to the Faces and Emotions section of Unicode 11.0 in 2018.
😘 The “Air Kiss” emoticon was assigned the code U+1F618, with which it was added to the Faces and Emotions section of Unicode 6.0 in 2010.
😻 The “Cat in Love” emoticon was assigned the code U+1F63B, with which it was added to the Faces and Emotions section of the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010.
The Valentines
Sure, today we’re less and less likely to send the actual paper cards accepted to punch in on Valentine’s Day. But to pay tribute to centuries-old traditions, we can add a Valentine’s emoji to our digital message.
💌 The “Love Letter” emoticon was assigned the code U+1F48C, with which it was added to the Faces and Emotions section of the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010.
💝 The “Heart with Ribbon” emoticon was assigned the code U+1F49D, with which it was added to the Faces and Emotions section of the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010.
The Flowers
Of course, the first flower that comes to mind when Valentine’s Day is the red Rose. But you can also use other flowers from the Unicode set in your messages. Just choose the ones in a red or pink color palette.
🌹 The Rose emoticon was assigned the code U+1F339, with which it was added to the Animals and Nature section of the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010.
🌺 The Hibiscus emoticon was assigned the code U+1F33A, with which it was added to the Animals and Nature section of the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010.
🌷 The Tulip emoticon was assigned the code U+1F337, with which it was added to the Animals and Nature section of the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010.
🌸 The Cherry Blossom emoticon was assigned the code U+1F338, with which it was added to the Animals and Nature section of the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010.
Other Symbols
Sometimes we do not want to talk about deep feelings and just want to add romance and playfulness to a message. Then the Kiss emoji will come in handy.
💋The Kiss emoticon was assigned the code U+1F48B, with which it was added to the Faces and Emotions section of the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010.
It is very touching and romantic to exchange rings on Valentine’s Day. Rings are associated with the formation of a new union of two loving hearts. If you are ready for a serious relationship, getting engaged on this day will be the best decision. It has long been customary to get engaged on Valentine’s Day, and this tradition is still alive today.
💍 The Ring emoticon was assigned the code U+1F48D, with which it was added to the Objects section of the Unicode 6.0 standard in 2010.
Doves are also considered symbols of the St. Valentines Day. But these birds are more appropriate to use in the messages to friends, or colleagues.
🕊️ The Dove emoticon was assigned the code U+1F54A U+FE0F, with which it was added to the Animals and Nature section of the Unicode 7.0 standard in 2014.
As for the swans, they are though to be the most romantic birds ever. They find their better half once for the whole life. By the way, one of the legends about the creation of the heart symbol of based on the image of two swans.
🦢 The Swan emoticon was assigned the code U+1F9A2, with which it was added to the Animals and Nature section of the Unicode 11.0 standard in 2018.
Conclusion
The most important thing in the process of celebrating Valentine’s Day is writing love messages – valentines. This tradition is directly linked to the legend of the Roman bishop Valentine, who secretly married lovers, for which he paid with his life.
Sentenced to execution by the tyrant Claudius II, Valentine met his love, the daughter of one of the jailers, while in prison. The night before his execution, he wrote her a declaration of love, which he signed: Your Valentine.
This is how modern lovers should sign their love declarations on this day (your Valentine or your Valentina). According to the laws of Valentine’s Day, the lover should receive exactly an anonymous message – even writing it should be done with the left hand (if the writer is right-handed) or from right to left. The recipient should, even without understanding the handwriting, guess with his heart who is in love with him.
Of course, today it is quite difficult to hide the name of the sender in social networks and messengers, but the tradition of sending romantic greetings has remained and is unlikely to go anywhere.
There are so many symbols that represent tender romantic feelings, passionate love and strong friendship, and all of them will be appropriate for Valentine’s Day. Remember also that love can be proved not only by objects, but also by actions, words and heart! And if it is your heart that dictates your words, then they are worthless – this is the best thing that your soulmate will want to hear on Valentine’s Day.
