THE HISTORY
OF
VALENTINE'S DAY
G'day guys,
They tell me that today is a special day for lovers, and that folks get cards, flowers and chocolates from loved ones. Mm ... Better check my letterbox.
But seriously, here are some facts behind this celebrated day.
Every February 14, across the United States and in other
places around the world, candy, flowers and gifts are exchanged between loved
ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint, and where
did these traditions come from? Find out about the history of this
centuries-old holiday, from ancient Roman rituals to the customs of Victorian
England.
The Legend of St. Valentine
The
history of Valentine’s Day–and the story of its patron saint–is shrouded in
mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of
romance, and that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges
of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine, and
how did he become associated with this ancient rite?
The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different
saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend
contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in
Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers
than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men.
Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued
to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were
discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.
Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed
for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were
often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine
actually sent the first “valentine” greeting himself after he fell in love with
a young girl–possibly his jailor’s daughter–who visited him during his
confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed
“From your Valentine,” an expression that is still in use today. Although the
truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories all emphasize his
appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and–most importantly–romantic figure. By the Middle Ages, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine
would become one of the most popular saints in England and France.
Origins of Valentine’s Day: A Pagan Festival in February
While some
believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to
commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial–which probably
occurred around A.D. 270–others claim that the Christian church may have
decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an
effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the
ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated
to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders
Romulus and Remus.
To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of
Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and
Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf
or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for
purification. They would then strip the goat’s hide into strips, dip them into
the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and
crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed
the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the
coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the
city would place their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would each
choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These
matches often ended in marriage.
Valentine’s Day: A Day of Romance
Lupercalia
survived the initial rise of Christianity and but was outlawed—as it was deemed
“un-Christian”–at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared
February 14 St. Valentine’s Day. It was not until much later, however, that the
day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was
commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of
birds’ mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of Valentine’s
Day should be a day for romance.
Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine’s didn’t begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. (The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.
Typical Valentine’s Day Greetings
In
addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom,
France and Australia. In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day began to be popularly
celebrated around the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th, it was common
for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of
affection or handwritten notes, and by 1900 printed cards began to replace
written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards
were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct
expression of one’s feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also
contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine’s Day
greetings.
Americans probably began exchanging
hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began
selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the
“Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and
colorful pictures known as “scrap.” Today, according to the Greeting Card
Association, an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year,
making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An
estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.)
Women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.
Clancy's comment: Well, I checked the letterbox. Nothing! Mm ... I thought ya loved me.
I'm ...
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