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Valentines Day
Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are
exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is
this mysterious saint and why do we celebrate this holiday?
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. 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 270 A.D -- others claim that the Christian
church may have decided to celebrate Valentine's feast day in the middle of
February in an effort to 'christianize' celebrations of the pagan Lupercalia
festival. In ancient Rome,
February was the official beginning of spring and was considered a time for
purification. Houses were ritually cleansed by sweeping them out and then
sprinkling salt and a type of wheat called spelt throughout their interiors.
Lupercalia, which began at the ides of February, February 15, 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 the 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
then sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. The boys
then sliced the goat's hide into strips, dipped them in the sacrificial blood
and took to the streets, gently slapping both women and fields of crops with
the goathide strips. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed being
touched with the hides because it was believed the strips would 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 then each choose a name out of the urn and become paired for
the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.
Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St.
Valentine's Day around 498 A.D. The Roman 'lottery' system for romantic
pairing was deemed un-Christian and outlawed. Later, 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
February -- Valentine's Day -- should be a day for romance.
The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written
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, which was written in
1415, is 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
In Great Britain,
Valentine's Day began to be popularly celebrated around the seventeenth
century. By the middle of the eighteenth century, it was common for friends
and lovers in all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or
handwritten notes. By the end of the century, 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 to sell the first
mass-produced valentines in America.
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