By La’Niya Jones
Valentine’s Day is the day of love for some and the day of despair for others. What is the real history behind this day of love? To be quite honest, the history of the holiday is a complete mystery, but there are many theories surrounding it.
Many celebrate February 14th by sending chocolates, bears, notes, flowers, and much more to their loved ones. While others celebrate curled up on the couch with ice cream.
Let’s first look at some people named Valentine who may have contributed to the holiday.
One person named Valentine was said to be a priest who went against Emperor Claudius II. The emperor believed that single men were better soldiers than those who were married and had families. In his eyes, he wanted to give Rome better soldiers, so he passed a rule that outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine did not agree with that, and instead of following orders, he continued to marry young lovers in private. When the emperor found out, he ordered that Valentine be killed for his actions.
Another theory is that Valentine was a prisoner who fell in love, as some say, with his jailer’s daughter. Before his death, he sent the first “Valentine’s greeting” to the young woman that he fell in love with. To end his letter, he signed it “from your Valentine,” a phrase that is still used today.
Though it isn’t clear who exactly Valentine was, he was still seen as someone heroic and sympathetic who would later represent a romantic figure. These stories lead many people to believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated as the anniversary of Valentine’s death. Any holes left in the stories were filled by people over the years and molded into something that would be an inspiration for Valentine’s Day.
Other people look to the pagan celebration of Lupercalia (February 13th-15th) as the inspiration for Valentine’s Day.
Lupercalia was a celebration of fertility dedicated to the Roman god of agriculture, Faunus, and the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. The feast of Lupercalia was an interesting one, to say the least. It was said to be celebrated to purify the city and help promote health and fertility.
Roman priests were members of Luperci. They met at the Lupercal cave (the cave where Romulus and Remus grew up being taken care of by a she-wolf, or lupa) and sacrificed a goat for fertility and a dog for purification.
They took the goat hide and dipped it in the sacrificial blood, and with that, they gently hit women and crop fields. It was believed that its touch would make them more fertile in the year to come, and many Roman women embraced this. Another thing is that they had a lottery for love. Young women would put their name in an urn, and bachelors would choose a name and pair up with them for a year; many matches ended in marriage.
When Christianity swept over the Roman Empire, pagan events like Lupercalia were not acceptable, and many holidays were converted to fit Christian beliefs. Some people believe that Valentine’s Day was made to erase pagan influences and bring more Christianity into the culture.
The interesting thing is that Valentine’s Day did not get associated with love until around the Middle Ages. During this time, it was believed that February 14th was the start of mating season for birds in France and England.
The first recorded mention of Valentine’s Day as a day of love celebration came from poet Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem “Parlement of Foules,” written around 1375. The poem talks about birds meeting to choose their mates on St. Valentine’s Day. The origins of why he wrote the poem are a bit blurry. He either took inspiration from how the day was celebrated or he added some fiction, which later inspired the day to connect with love.
The earliest Valentine’s Day greeting came in 1415 from the Duke of Orleans, Charles, to his wife Marie.
As the years passed, Valentine’s Day continued to evolve and morph into something sweet and beautiful.
Though the origin of the whole holiday is not picture-perfect, you are still able to see inspiration being pulled from many sources. The day of love has neither a true beginning nor a true ending. So, grab some chocolates, flowers, or candy, and prepare for this Valentine’s Day – sincerely, your Valentine.
