History of Valentines Day

Valentines Day History

St Valentines Day is celebrated on February 14th. It is a traditional day in many countries when lovers show their love by sending cards and giving gifts of flowers and chocolate.

There are several Christian Marytrs named Valentine who are said to be the source of the name.

Chaucer's Parliament of Foules from the middle ages:
For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.

This was the first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love and was written to honour the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia.

Valentines themselves are the love notes exchanges - now replaced by greetings cards,

Modern Valentine symbols include both the heart-shaped outline (playing card style rather than anatomical) and the figure of the winged Cupid.

The history of Valentine's Day -- and its patron saint -- is shrouded in mystery. But we do know that February has long been a month of romance. St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition.

So, who was Saint Valentine and how did he become associated with this ancient rite? Today, 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 -- his crop of potential soldiers. 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, Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl -- who may have been his jailor's daughter -- who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed 'From your Valentine,' an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and, most importantly, romantic figure. It's no surprise that by the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France.

5th Century, Rome
Mid February was traditionally the time of the Lupercian festival, an ode to the God of fertility and a celebration of sensual pleasure, a time to meet and court a prospective mate. In AD 496, Pope Gelasius outlawed the pagan festival. But he was clever to replace it with a similar celebration, although one deemed morally suitable. He needed a "lovers" saint to replace the pagan deity Lupercus.

The martyred Bishop Valentine was chosen as the patron saint of the new festival.

Saint Valentine had been beheaded for helping young lovers marry against the wishes of the mad emperor Claudius. Before execution, Valentine himself had fallen in love with his jailer's daughter. He signed his final note to her, "From Your Valentine", a phrase that has lasted through the centuries.

Pope Gelasius didn't get everything he wanted. The pagan festival died out, it is true, but he had further hoped people would emulate the lives of saints. Instead they latched onto the more romantic aspect of Saint Valentines religious life. While not immediately as popular as the more passionate pagan festival, eventually the concept of celebrating true love became known as Valentine's Day.

Lupercalia seems to have been associated both with the Roman gods Lupercus and Faunus. Lupercus watched over shepherds and their flocks; Faunus (like the Greek god Pan) was a god of flocks and fertility. The day became a celebration intended to ensure the fertility of flocks, fields and people.

On Lupercalia goats and a dogs were sacrificed on Palatine Hill (fabled birth home of Romulus and Remus). Young men known as Luperci would then race the street beneath the hill wielding goat-skin thongs called februa. With these thongs they would lash women gathered in the streets. A februa lashing (a februatio) supposedly ensured fertility and easy child delivery.

As the Roman empire grew, the celebration of Lupercalia was transformed and spread throughout the Roman Empire. During the celebrations of Lupercalia in Roman conquered France, the first Valentine-like cards may have been exchanged. Apparently a container in which women had placed their names (possibly accompanied by love notes) was used in a lottery. Men drawing a woman's name would either seek (or were guaranteed -- this detail seems obscured by time) a woman's "favors" -- whatever those might be.

Saint Valentine's Day
As Christianity began to take hold in Europe, the Roman church attempted to clean up this pagan Roman day by merging its feast with Saint Valentine's Day (observed like today's Valentines Day on the 14th of February). This day honored two legendary Christian martyrs.

The legend of these martyrs may have stemmed from real people or from a single person. One of these martyrs is believed to have been a Roman priest and physician who was killed in the 3rd century during the persecutions of the Emperor Claudius II Gothicus (the Groth). After his death this Valentine was apparently buried in the Roman road Via Flaminia. Pope Julius the first is said to have later built a basilica above his grave. A second Saint Valentine candidate is believed to be a bishop of Terni (a province in central Italy) who was executed in Rome.

These men's status comes from legends of harboring Christians from persecution, of curing the blindness of a cell-keeper's daughter, and of conducting marriages while marriages were forbidden during times of war. It is perhaps this last repute and the traditions of Lupercalia that coupled to honor Saint Valentine as the patron saint of lovers.

In 1969 this day of feast was dropped from the Roman Church Calendar.

Eros, Cupid, Amor - Cupid's Arrow
From its association with Lupercalia and that day's association with fertility comes Valentines association with love and romance. This led Valentines enthusiasts to co-opt the Roman god Cupid as a patron of Valentines day. Cupid is also known as Amor and as Eros in Greek mythology. Eros seems to have been responsible for impregnating a number of other gods -- Gaea (mother earth) and Chaos. The ancient Greeks believed Eros was the force love -- a force they believed was behind all creation.

As Cupid this god is often depicted with wings and carrying a bow and quiver of gold typed arrows. Sometimes referred to as the son of Aphrodite, Cupid is said to be mischievous and able to inspire love with a shot of one of his arrows.

Valentine's Day started in the time of the Roman Empire. In ancient Rome, February 14th was a holiday to honor Juno. Juno was the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the Goddess of women and marriage. The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia.

The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. However, one of the customs of the young people was name drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl's name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry.

Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. The good Saint Valentine was a priest at Rome in the days of Claudius II. He and Saint Marius aided the Christian martyrs and secretly married couples, and for this kind deed Saint Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February, about the year 270. At that time it was the custom in Rome, a very ancient custom, indeed, to celebrate in the month of February the Lupercalia, feasts in honor of a heathen god. On these occasions, amidst a variety of pagan ceremonies, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed.

The pastors of the early Christian Church in Rome endeavored to do away with the pagan element in these feasts by substituting the names of saints for those of maidens. And as the Lupercalia began about the middle of February, the pastors appear to have chosen Saint Valentine's Day for the celebration of this new feast. So it seems that the custom of young men choosing maidens for valentines, or saints as patrons for the coming year, arose in this way.

Valentines traditions

Hundreds of years ago in England, many children dressed up as adults on Valentine's Day. They went singing from home to home. One verse they sang was:
Good morning to you, valentine;
Curl your locks as I do mine---
Two before and three behind.
Good morning to you, valentine.

In Wales wooden love spoons were carved and given as gifts on February 14th. Hearts, keys and keyholes were favorite decorations on the spoons. The decoration meant, "You unlock my heart!"
In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week. To wear your heart on your sleeve now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling.
In some countries, a young woman may receive a gift of clothing from a young man. If she keeps the gift, it means she will marry him.
Some people used to believe that if a woman saw a robin flying overhead on Valentine's Day, it meant she would marry a sailor. If she saw a sparrow, she would marry a poor man and be very happy. If she saw a goldfinch, she would marry a millionaire.
A love seat is a wide chair. It was first made to seat one woman and her wide dress. Later, the love seat or courting seat had two sections, often in an S-shape. In this way, a couple could sit together -- but not too closely!
Think of five or six names of boys or girls you might marry, As you twist the stem of an apple, recite the names until the stem comes off. You will marry the person whose name you were saying when the stem fell off.
Pick a dandelion that has gone to seed. Take a deep breath and blow the seeds into the wind. Count the seeds that remain on the stem. That is the number of children you will have.
If you cut an apple in half and count how many seeds are inside, you will also know how many children you will have.