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 theBattle
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 KingHenry
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.
Facts of valentine’s day
- 220,000 is the average number of wedding proposals on Valentine's Day each year.
- Teachers will receive the
most Valentine's Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, sweethearts
and pets.
- In Victorian times it was considered bad luck to sign a Valentine’s
Day card
- Every Valentine's Day, the Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare's lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet.
- Based on retail statistics, about 3 per cent of pet
owners will give Valentine’s Day gifts to their pets.
- Parents receive 1 out of every 5 valentines
- In some countries, a young woman may receive a gift of clothing from a prospective suitor. If the gift is kept, then it means she has accepted his proposal of marriage
- If an individual thinks of five or six names considered to be suitable marriage partners and twists the stem of an apple while the names are being recited, then it is believed the eventual spouse will be the one whose name was recited at the moment the stem broke.
- About 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged each year. This makes it the second largest seasonal card sending time of the year
- If you’re
single don’t despair. You can celebrate Singles Awareness Day (SAD) instead.
- Meant as an alternative to Valentine’s Day, the holiday is for single people to celebrate or to commiserate in their single status.
- Or you could pop over to
Finland where Valentine’s Day is called Ystävänpäivä, which translates into
“Friend’s day”. It's more about remembering your buddies than your loved ones.
- Many believe the X symbol became synonymous with the kiss in medieval times. People who couldn't write their names signed in front of a witness with an X. The X was then kissed to show their sincerity.
- In the Middle Ages, young men and women
drew names from a bowl to see who would be their Valentine. They would wear
this name pinned onto their sleeves for one week for everyone to see. This was
the origin of the expression "to wear your heart on your sleeve."
- In
1537, England's King Henry VII officially declared Feb. 14 the holiday of St.
Valentine's Day.
- Physicians of the 1800s commonly advised their patients to
eat chocolate to calm their pining for lost love.
- Richard Cadbury produced
the first box of chocolates for Valentine's Day in the late 1800s.
- More than
35 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be sold for Valentine's Day.
- 73
percent of people who buy flowers for Valentine's Day are men, while only 27
percent are women.
- 15 percent of U.S. women send themselves flowers on Valentine's Day.
- Over $1 billion worth of chocolate is purchased for Valentine's Day in the U.S.
- Over 50 percent of all Valentine's Day cards are purchased in the six days prior to the holiday, making Valentine's Day a procrastinator's delight.
- Red roses are considered the flower of love because the color red stands for strong romantic feelings.
- 189 million stems of roses are sold in the U.S. on Valentine's Day.
- Women purchase approximately
85 percent of all valentine’s day gifts
Valentine's Day Superstitions
Sparrow: a poor manOwl: remain spinsterBluebird: a happy manBlackbird: a priest or clergymanCrossbill: an argumentative man
- If an apple is cut in half, the number of seeds found inside the fruit will indicate the number of children that individual will have.
- To be awoken by a kiss on Valentine's Day is considered lucky.
- On Valentine's Day, the first guy's name you read in the paper or hear on the TV or radio will be the name of the man you will marry.
- If you see a squirrel on Valentine's Day, you will marry a cheapskate who will hoard all your money.
- If you see a goldfinch on Valentine's Day, you will marry a millionaire.
- If you see a robin on Valentine's Day, you will marry a crime fighter - maybe they mean Batman!
- If you see a flock of doves on Valentine's Day, you will have a happy, peaceful marriage.
- If you find a glove on the road on Valentine's Day, your future beloved will have the other missing glove.
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