Valentine's Day in France.

The origins of Saint Valentine’s Day are unclear. Ancient Rome celebrated the 14th February as a day of worship to the god Juno, and there are three different Saint Valentines in the Catholic Church. Tradition states that people began to notice that birds began their mating rituals half way through the second month of the year and so the 14th was designated as a day for exchanging love letters and tokens of esteem.

As you would expect from a country whose capital city is so strongly associated with romance, Valentine’s day has throughout history played a part in the love lives of the French. A former Valentine’s Day custom, which was officially banned, was that of ‘la loterie d’amour’, translated as ‘lottery of love’. Single people, both young and old, would go into their houses, (the houses all facing in on each other during this period), and call out until they were paired off with each other. However, if the gentleman was displeased with his ‘prize’ he would simply abandon her, hoping for better luck next time! Those women abandoned by their suitors would build a large bonfire and burn images of their men, cursing and abusing them as the flames burnt. However, due to fears of public disorder the government issued a decree banning the practice.

The origins of the first Valentine cards to be sent also have a French connection: the first known ‘carte d'amitié’, was believed to have been sent in 1415 by the Duke of Orleans who was imprisoned in the Tower of London following the Battle of Agincourt, to his wife.

The village of Saint Valentin, situated in the central department of Indre was traditionally a place of pilgrimage. Nowadays the village holds a number of fêtes to celebrate its association with this patron saint, where people can renew their marriage vows.

Today St Valentine's Day is celebrated in France in much the same way as in the UK where it is an opportunity to exchange cards, flowers, chocolates and other gifts. It has a similar commercial feel also as retailers will stock up on these traditional gifts and cards, and hearts and roses will be the order of the day in shop windows and displays.

Blog submitted by: Alex at Cle France.

Qui était saint Valentin? (Who was Saint Valentine?)

A day that is both loved (and possibly loathed) around the world. However, in France, a Saint-Valentin is particularly a holiday for lovers and only means one thing, Love.

Valentines Day has its origins in the life of the real Saint Valentine, who lived in the third-century. According to some Catholic tradition, Saint Valentine was martyred on a road to Rome in 269 AD. However, very little is known about him and stories about his life–and death–diverge. According to the French Catholic website Nominis...  

“Il était, dit-on, évêque de Terni en Italie et jouissait du renom de thaumaturge. Un miracle le fit connaître comme chrétien et le préfet de Rome fit mettre à mort celui qui avait mis ses pouvoirs de prêtre et ses talents de médecin au service des chrétiens prisonniers pour leur foi.”

(He was, it is said, the bishop of Terni in Italy who was renowned as a miracle worker. One miracle in particular made him known as a Christian and the Roman government put him to death because he had used his powers as a priest and his medical knowledge to help Christian prisoners for their faith.)

According to another story, the Roman emperor Claudius admired Saint Valentine for his talents. Claudius told his fellow Romans, “Romains… écoutez comme cet homme parle avec sagesse et droiture.” (Romans, listen to how this man speaks with wisdom and righteousness.) However, despite his earlier admiration, Claudius felt threatened by Saint Valentine after he healed one of Claudius’ soldier’s daughters, who was blind, and decapitated him in 280 AD.

Whatever the circumstances of his life and death, why is Saint Valentine commemorated on February 14 around the world? In 495, Pope Gelasius decreed that February 14 would be consecrated to Saint Valentine. We don’t know exactly why, however. According to some traditions, it’s because mid-February was believed to be the time of year, in the Middle Ages, when birds paired off.

It, thus, became associated with romantic love. How did Saint Valentine become associated with romantic love? That’s more difficult to trace. However, English author Chaucer is typically credited with popularising the holiday in the fourteenth century–over one thousand years after the real Saint Valentine lived.

Joyeuse Saint-Valentin!

Psst: Did you Know...

• We have created a selection of Free PDF Guides for you to download covering many aspects of buying property abroad, visit our PDF Guides Page today or download our "Buying A Property in France" Guide PDF document.

• Want to Live in France Post-Brexit? download our "PDF Guide to Living in France Post-Brexit" document.

  

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

Dollar Taking A Hit, Can You Guess Why ?

From Thursday last week it's been a tough run for the currency...

With plenty of US related geopolitical news, traders are potentially showing their disquiet as other currencies go up versus the Dollar.

From Thursday last week it's been a tough run for the currency.

Generally speaking global news stories rarely affect currency rates unless they are specifically around a certain countries denomination.

Scheduled news stories and economic sentiment usually have more weight in exchange rate fluctuations.

With that in mind here's a view of what the rest of the week looks like....and it's a strong week.

Australian inflation is first out of the traps with annualised growth of 3.6% expected.

However it's after that that the bigger stories start, and it's all about interest rate decisions.

The Bank of Canada is expected to keep its base rate at 2.25% on Wednesday.

Later in the evening sees the US rate decision with the FED expected to keep their rate at 3.75%.

The FED press conference could be the big Dollar mover.

Economic calendar:
AUS: Wednesday 12:30am Inflation Report
CAN: Thursday 14:45pm BoC Interest Rate Decision
US: Thursday 19:00 FED Interest Rate Decision
US: Thursday 19:00 FOMC Press Conference

So what next, what should you do?

As ever we look forward to keeping you in the loop and so please look out for our next update.

Our friendly currency experts are here to assist you and guide you through the markets, we offer a first-class service and even an online platform so you can monitor your transaction in real time.

Our business ethos is based on bank beating rates and fantastic customer service, click the link below for a no obligation quotation and see the savings for yourself.

Don’t wait. Contact us now.

Or to find out our latest rates, click below.

Get ahead of the game and read our Guide to Foreign Currency Exchange.

Download the Guide Here - with no obligation of course.

Kind regards, 
David Evans 
Co-Founder of Cle France.

1. Great exchange rates
2. Quick and easy transfers
3. No transfer fees
4. Expert help and guidance
5. Authorised by the FCA

Current rates: 

Tuesday 27th January 2026 at 10:00

£1.00 GBP = 1.1525 EUR

£1.00 GBP = 1.3700 USD

£1.00 GBP = 1.9775 AUD

£1.00 GBP = 2.3935 NZD

£1.00 GBP = 1.8780 CAD

£1.00 GBP = 1.0630 CHF

• Want to Learn More?

• We have created a selection of Free PDF Guides for you to download covering many aspects of buying property abroad, visit our PDF Guides Page today or download our "Buying A Property in France" Guide PDF document.
•  
  • At Clé France / Regency FX, many of our customers have a need for currency exchange.
  • We are pleased to offer our customers favourable exchange rates on international currency transfers.
  • As a Clé France website visitor, you qualify for preferential exchange rates when you transact through Regency FX.

How to Save Money on your foreign currency transfers

• Regency FX can save you money by offering more competitive rates of exchange than your bank.
• Clients can typically save you 3-4% of the total transaction value, which can result in significant cost savings.
• All client funds are held in segregated accounts with top-tier banks keeping your money safe and secure.
• Cle France has partnered with Regency FX, a trusted and fully safeguarded currency exchange provider, to bring you even better service and exclusive benefits when transferring money internationally.

For everything you need to know about French property visit www.clefrance.co.uk

The Cle France You Tube Channel.

Have you visited the Cle France You Tube Channel yet? below is David's weekly 10 minute review of our latest property listings and price reductions highlighted in our weekly newsletter.

This video aims help visitors to our website get the best experience, hope you like it and you learn something, please feel free to leave a comment, let us know if you would like anything explaining or for us to cover something different and of course; please Like and Subscribe.

Check out the video now by clicking the image below.

See you there!

Visit the Cle France You Tube Channel for more videos including property walk-through videos, on location, how to... and many more videos.

For everything you need to know about French property visit www.clefrance.co.uk

Sterling Recovers.

The question is will the recovery keep running...

Sterling ended the year on the ascension against both the Dollar and the Euro.

It started the year in similar fashion reaching 3 month highs this week.

The question is will the recovery keep running.

With global tensions rumbling it's a difficult question to gauge.

Will traders and investors start moving towards perceived safe havens such as gold which could bolster the Dollar?

On a more granular level, trading continues in a normal fashion responding to scheduled news rather than the more spectacular global news stories.

There's Chinese inflation numbers overnight with annualised growth of 0.9% which precedes big Canadian and US data tomorrow.

Canada is expected to release an unemployment rate of 6.6% at the same time as the much anticipated US non farm payrolls.

Analysts are predicting employment growth of 60,000 jobs.

The jobs data in the US has been under close scrutiny over recent months with the reported numbers often in contradiction to the Presidents rhetoric.

Economic calendar:
CHN: Friday 01:30 Inflation Report
CAN: Friday 13:30 Unemployment Rate
US: Friday 13:30 Non Farm Payrolls

So what next, what should you do?

As ever we look forward to keeping you in the loop and so please look out for our next update.

Our friendly currency experts are here to assist you and guide you through the markets, we offer a first-class service and even an online platform so you can monitor your transaction in real time.

Our business ethos is based on bank beating rates and fantastic customer service, click the link below for a no obligation quotation and see the savings for yourself.

Don’t wait. Contact us now.

Or to find out our latest rates, click below.

Get ahead of the game and read our Guide to Foreign Currency Exchange.

Download the Guide Here - with no obligation of course.

Kind regards, 
David Evans 
Co-Founder of Cle France.

1. Great exchange rates
2. Quick and easy transfers
3. No transfer fees
4. Expert help and guidance
5. Authorised by the FCA

Current rates: 

Thursday 8th January 2026 at 16:30

£1.00 GBP = 1.1525 EUR

£1.00 GBP = 1.3435 USD

£1.00 GBP = 2.0075 AUD

£1.00 GBP = 2.3365 NZD

£1.00 GBP = 1.8625 CAD

£1.00 GBP = 1.0740 CHF

• Want to Learn More?

• We have created a selection of Free PDF Guides for you to download covering many aspects of buying property abroad, visit our PDF Guides Page today or download our "Buying A Property in France" Guide PDF document.
•  
  • At Clé France / Regency FX, many of our customers have a need for currency exchange.
  • We are pleased to offer our customers favourable exchange rates on international currency transfers.
  • As a Clé France website visitor, you qualify for preferential exchange rates when you transact through Regency FX.

How to Save Money on your foreign currency transfers

• Regency FX can save you money by offering more competitive rates of exchange than your bank.
• Clients can typically save you 3-4% of the total transaction value, which can result in significant cost savings.
• All client funds are held in segregated accounts with top-tier banks keeping your money safe and secure.
• Cle France has partnered with Regency FX, a trusted and fully safeguarded currency exchange provider, to bring you even better service and exclusive benefits when transferring money internationally.

For everything you need to know about French property visit www.clefrance.co.uk