Valentine’s Day: A legend of love
One billion letters, truckloads of chocolate and thousands of sundry animals stamped in places “mentionable” and “un” with little red hearts.
All in the name of Saint Valentine.
But even though this Saturday Valentine’s Day will be celebrated in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia, few of its participants have any idea exactly why they are celebrating it. And there’s good reason.
The history of Valentine’s Day – and its patron saint – is shrouded in mystery and legend that has evolved through the years. But whatever the stories of its inception, one thing is certain: February has long been synonymous with love.
According to historychannel.com, the Catholic church officially recognizes three different saints named Valentine, all of whom were martyred. One of the most popular legends tells of a priest serving in Rome in the third century. During that time, Emperor Claudius II, recognizing that single men made much better soldiers than those with wives and families, decreed it illegal for single men to marry.
Knowing the emperor’s edict to be unfair, Valentine went in defiance marrying young lovers in secret. Needless to say, when his actions were discovered, Claudius had Valentine imprisoned and eventually beheaded.
It is said, however, that while he was in prison waiting to be executed he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter who came to visit him and wrote her a letter expressing his love, signing it simply “from your Valentine.”
Another legend says that Valentine may have been killed while trying to aid Christians in escaping from the Roman prisons where they were often beaten and tortured.
The reasons for Valentines’ celebration on Feb. 14 are likewise complex. Encyclopedia.com reveals that some believe it to be in commemoration of the death of Saint Valentine, possibly occurring around the year 270 A.D. However, others claim that – like Christmas and Easter – the early Christian church may have tried to “christianize” the celebration of the pagan Lupercalia festival centered in the ides of February which was used to celebrate fertility and purification.
One interesting event held during this pagan holiday was the “lottery system” of romantic pairing. First, all the young women would place their names in a jar. Then, all the eligible young men would pick a name out of the jar and become paired for a year with the lucky lady. Many of these matches ended in marriage.
Owing to its erotic nature and emphasis on feverish love, the Christian church decided to change this “feast of the flesh” into a “ritual for romance.” Thus, around 498 A.D., Pope Gelasius outlawed the celebration of most of the traditions associated with the Lupercalia festival.
The idea that Feb. 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, held commonly during the middle ages in England and France, only helped to solidify the belief that this day should be one of romance.
One of the most well-known traditions associated with Valentine’s Day is the exchange of special cards and letters, called valentines. One of the oldest valentines, dating back to A.D. 1415, was a poem written by Duke Charles of Orleans to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
By the 18th century it was common for English and Americans of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes to friends and lovers. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began to sell the first mass-produced valentines in America, according to encyclopedia.com.
Today, Valentine’s Day is one of the most commercialized holidays of the year, bringing millions of dollars of revenue to hundreds of companies both large and small. Additionally, it has the potential for being one of the most romantic days of the year.
And you thought it was just Single Awareness Day.
Other Web sites used to compile this info are www.me2u.com/LoveLore and www.m2m.com/LoveLore.
-mattgo@cc.usu.edu