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.
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