Red roses, cards, cherubs and chocolates can be found in various abundance at the beginning of each February; indeed, the second highest card-giving holiday after Christamas, according to Hallmark. Since the Middle Ages, February 14th has been heralded as a day of love and romance. But why February 14th? And who, exactly, is Valentine?
It might surprise you (or not) that there are some distinctly Roman roots to the holiday of romance. A far cry from our modern iteration with cards and candies, the Roman festival of Lupercalia was a much more bloody and drunken affair. Roman priests, known as Luperici, would gather at a cave thought to be the childhood home of Rome’s founders Romulus and Remus, where they were raised by a she-wolf adoptive mother. The priests would sacrifice a goat for fertility and a dog for purification. Strands of cloth or goat hide would be dipped in the blood of the animals and were used to whip fields for a fertile harvest and against the backs of Roman women believed to imbued them with fertility in the coming year. A large celebration was held between February 13-15 in which the names of these women were placed in a vessel and eligible Roman bachelors then selected a name from the vessel to be coupled for the year – some of these pairings did lead to marriage.
It isn’t until the third century and the reign of Emperor Claudius II that we see the legend of St. Valentine emerge. It is believed that he executed two men, both named Valentine, in different years on February 14th, although it is possible the two men are one and the same. As the story goes, Claudius II, believing that unmarried soldiers made better warriors, banned marriages. A priest, named Valentine, defied the Emperor and married couples in secret. For his efforts he was imprisoned and eventually executed but legend has it, he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter, whom he miraculously cured of her blindness and sent her a note “from your Valentine”. Whether this is fact or legend still remains, but, it has come to associate the Saint with love ever since. To honor the martyrdom, the Catholic Church celebrated the St. Valentine’s day feast. During the fifth century, Pope Gelasius I combined the observance of St. Valentine’s Day with Lupercalia in an attempt to co-opt and suppress the pagan festival.
By the time we get to the Middle Ages the holiday becomes more sweet and less somber. In Europe, specifically England and France, the holiday coincided with birds’ mating season and the attitudes changed from a day of celebrated martyrdom to an association with love and lovers. This concept was further romanticized by writers such as Chaucer and William Shakespheare. The oldest known Valentine was written in 1415 by the Duke of Oreans, Charles, while he was imprisoned by Henry V in the Tower of London to his wife Catherine of Valois. By the mid 1800s we see the traditions of gift giving and card writing expanded to all social classes.
Eventually these traditions made their way across the Atlantic and into the Industrial Age where card making became revolutionized by mass production in factories. Most notably, in 1913 Hallmark Cards of Kansas CIty, MO – modern day Hallmark – began producing Valentine cards, which are still mass produced and used today. Although there are those that lament the day as a “Hallmark Holiday”, it is still a popular and widely celebrated holiday in the US, UK, France, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Argentina and South Korea. February 14th is the most popular wedding day in the Philippines with mass weddings occurring there every year. Over the centuries the holiday has expanded to expressions of love and affection for lovers, family and friends, with millions of school children exchanging cards with classmates on this day.
Centuries removed from its Roman roots of fertility rituals, Valentine’s Day has become a day to celebrate love and connections.