History of Valentine’s Day
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Bet You Didn't Know: Valentine's Day
How did St. Valentine become associated with love and romance? Get the full story behind .
CONTENT
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.
Pla
Science of Love: 
How Chocolate is Made 3min
History of Chocolate 2min
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?
Did You Know?
Approximately 150 million Valentine's
Day cards are exchanged annually, making Valentine's Day the second
most popular card-sending holiday after Christmas.
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.
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Valentine's Day
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