Valentines Day: a lovey-dovey holiday filled with romance, chocolate and capitalism. However, it didn't start out that way. --Hazel PHillips, 9th grade
Valentines Day: a lovey-dovey holiday filled with romance, chocolate and capitalism. However, it didn't start out that way. In fact, it didn't start as a holiday at all. The Valentine's Day we know lands on the execution date of Saint Valentine. Sound familiar?
Saint Valentine was a martyr who was executed near Rome by Emperor Claudius II on February 14th for wedding couples in secret. The emperor had banned marriage as he thought that would solve his shortage of soldiers. Valentine, not yet a saint, was a priest and physician at the time of his death. After he died, the Christian Church learned of his actions and made him a saint.
Before his execution, Valentine was jailed and said to have befriended the jailer's daughter, who he allegedly cured of blindness. When he was about to be brought out to be beaten to death then having his head chopped off, he was said to have sent her a letter signed “your Valentine.” This became the first valentine.
Apart from being a marriage officiant, Saint Valentine did have a couple other defining traits that could be seen as love-oriented. Firstly, he wore a ring with Cupid on it, who is the Roman god of love,or Eros to the Greeks, which helped guards identify and capture him. A bit confusing why a Christian priest would go around wearing the symbol of a god from a polytheistic religion, but whatever. He was also said to have passed out paper hearts to remind Christians of their love for god.
As the patron saint of couples, Saint Valentine was said to look after lovers in the afterlife. He is also the figure that people pray to when they need help with beekeeping, epilepsy, the plague, fainting and traveling.
However, this was only one of the alleged Saint Valentines that may have started Valentine's Day. The second Saint Valentine was a bishop of Interamna (now Terni), and was also martyred by Emperor Claudius II on February 14th. Quite the coincidence, both being named “Saint Valentine,” and getting beaten to death by the order of Claudius. Not much more is known about him, but a lot of the accounts and stories have been muddled; of which Valentine they were speaking of has become unclear.
The third Saint Valentine has even less information about him than the last, but he was a martyr in a Roman province in Africa. He was also executed on February 14th, but by whom or why is unknown.
As for how Valentine's Day became a romantic holiday, there are several different theories, but no solid answer. The date of Saint Valentine's death mingled with the pagan festival of love and fertility, Lupercalia. Unfortunately, in 496 A.D., Pope Gelisius put an end to Lupercalia as a whole, and declared February 14th Saint Valentine's Day. Also around the time of Valentine's death, the Normans celebrated a holiday called Galatin’s Day (meaning “lover of women”), which sounds very similar to Valentine and could have easily been confused. Ancient Greece also had a mid-winter celebration of love—the celebration of Zeus and Hera's marriage.
Another theory is that the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (who was known to spin the truth) romanticized the holiday in one of his poems. In his poem “Parliament of Fowls,” he wrote that February 14th was the day that birds came to mate. Like Chaucer, Shakespeare also could have played a part in Valentine’s Day becoming a more love-focused holiday, by romanticizing it in his writings. There are brief mentions of it in both A Midsummer's Night Dream and Hamlet, implying that if two single people meet on Valentines Day, they will likely get married.
Gradually, Valentine's Day became a holiday of love, exchanging poems, love messages and simple gifts, like flowers. Victorian England was mainly responsible for the popularity of love cards, mass producing the newly named valentines. To sum it up, some poor guy (or multiple guys) died a brutal death only for his execution date to become a lovey dovey holiday. Think of that the next time you’re buying roses at Safeway to present to your lover. Or non-lover, who am I to judge? Anyways, happy Valentine's Day everyone, I wish you a fun-filled day free of execution.
Saint Valentine was a martyr who was executed near Rome by Emperor Claudius II on February 14th for wedding couples in secret. The emperor had banned marriage as he thought that would solve his shortage of soldiers. Valentine, not yet a saint, was a priest and physician at the time of his death. After he died, the Christian Church learned of his actions and made him a saint.
Before his execution, Valentine was jailed and said to have befriended the jailer's daughter, who he allegedly cured of blindness. When he was about to be brought out to be beaten to death then having his head chopped off, he was said to have sent her a letter signed “your Valentine.” This became the first valentine.
Apart from being a marriage officiant, Saint Valentine did have a couple other defining traits that could be seen as love-oriented. Firstly, he wore a ring with Cupid on it, who is the Roman god of love,or Eros to the Greeks, which helped guards identify and capture him. A bit confusing why a Christian priest would go around wearing the symbol of a god from a polytheistic religion, but whatever. He was also said to have passed out paper hearts to remind Christians of their love for god.
As the patron saint of couples, Saint Valentine was said to look after lovers in the afterlife. He is also the figure that people pray to when they need help with beekeeping, epilepsy, the plague, fainting and traveling.
However, this was only one of the alleged Saint Valentines that may have started Valentine's Day. The second Saint Valentine was a bishop of Interamna (now Terni), and was also martyred by Emperor Claudius II on February 14th. Quite the coincidence, both being named “Saint Valentine,” and getting beaten to death by the order of Claudius. Not much more is known about him, but a lot of the accounts and stories have been muddled; of which Valentine they were speaking of has become unclear.
The third Saint Valentine has even less information about him than the last, but he was a martyr in a Roman province in Africa. He was also executed on February 14th, but by whom or why is unknown.
As for how Valentine's Day became a romantic holiday, there are several different theories, but no solid answer. The date of Saint Valentine's death mingled with the pagan festival of love and fertility, Lupercalia. Unfortunately, in 496 A.D., Pope Gelisius put an end to Lupercalia as a whole, and declared February 14th Saint Valentine's Day. Also around the time of Valentine's death, the Normans celebrated a holiday called Galatin’s Day (meaning “lover of women”), which sounds very similar to Valentine and could have easily been confused. Ancient Greece also had a mid-winter celebration of love—the celebration of Zeus and Hera's marriage.
Another theory is that the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (who was known to spin the truth) romanticized the holiday in one of his poems. In his poem “Parliament of Fowls,” he wrote that February 14th was the day that birds came to mate. Like Chaucer, Shakespeare also could have played a part in Valentine’s Day becoming a more love-focused holiday, by romanticizing it in his writings. There are brief mentions of it in both A Midsummer's Night Dream and Hamlet, implying that if two single people meet on Valentines Day, they will likely get married.
Gradually, Valentine's Day became a holiday of love, exchanging poems, love messages and simple gifts, like flowers. Victorian England was mainly responsible for the popularity of love cards, mass producing the newly named valentines. To sum it up, some poor guy (or multiple guys) died a brutal death only for his execution date to become a lovey dovey holiday. Think of that the next time you’re buying roses at Safeway to present to your lover. Or non-lover, who am I to judge? Anyways, happy Valentine's Day everyone, I wish you a fun-filled day free of execution.
