The History of Valentine’s Day
Sofia Cloud
February 14th.
While some wait in bated anticipation for what they and their significant other will do, others dread the solemn reminder of their lack of said significant other. So if you want to impress your loved one, give that one insufferable couple something to be jealous about, or just dazzle your friends and family with your knowledge, refer back to this helpful guide of the history of Valentine's day.
Some of you may already be familiar with the man who started it all: the infamous Saint Valentine. But this does not give a full picture of the beginning, developments, and contemporary ways to celebrate the holiday. To answer some of these questions I have referred to History.com.
The keen reader may have already guessed that Saint Valentine had something to do with christianity and the romans. However, Catholicism actually recognised at least three different martyred saints with names similar enough to Valentine. So who is it? The answer is unfortunately unclear. One legend references a Priest named Valentine from the 3rd century who supposedly defied Emperor ClaudiusⅡ's order for soldiers to remain unmarried. Another recognises Saint Valentine of Terni, a roman bishop, as the true Valentine. Other popular conscripts for the job include an imprisoned man who sent the first “valentine” to a lover who visited him while he was confined. Regardless of who the “real” Saint Valentine was, he became a very popular saint in England and France by the middle ages.
Use this space to add more details about your site, a customer quote, or to talk about important news.But I'm getting ahead of myself. By this point, we all know almost every holiday has a pagan root before its organized religious awakening. For Valentine’s Day that is Lupercalia, a Roman fertility festival on February 15th. The start to this festival may seem odd to the modern eye but was actually welcomed by the women then, believing that it would make them more fertile. First roman priests would gather at a sacred cave and sacrifice a goat and a dog, then they would dip the goats hide into the sacrificial blood and slap the women and crop fields with the bloodied goat hide. During this day young women would also place their names into a pot for men to pull out, these matches often resulted in marriage.
As with many pagan holidays it was initially banned for being un-Christian, but was repopularized with its re-christianization and link to St Valentine. The holiday only became associated with love after it was linked to birds’ mating seasons, which in the middle ages were believed to have started February 14th. Valentine greetings became further popularized in the middle ages with the oldest known valentine placed at 1415 by an imprisoned Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife.
Cupid originated from the Greek god of love: Eros. Greek archaic poets wrote of Eros as engaging in his favorite pastime, playing with the emotions of gods and men alike, by sowing aversion with lead arrows and love with golden ones.
Valentine's day only became popularly celebrated in the 17th century in the UK. This developed to cards or small tokens of affection being commonly exchanged between friends or lovers in the mid 18th century, many of which came in print starting the 20th century. The United States took a slightly faster approach to the boom of valentines, with the first in the mass produced card in the 1840s by Esther A. Howland - aptly named the “mother of the valentine.”
If a lack of a significant other still has you feeling deflated, fear not, gifts to friends have always been commonplace and encouraged in the newest rendition of Valentine’s day: Galentines. According to NPR, the concept of Galentines first appeared in the sitcom Parks and Recreation in 2010. Officially the holiday takes place one day before Valentine’s day, on February 13th though celebrations often occur anywhere during the month of February.
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