American Holidays

The History of Valentines Day

Every February, all across United States, candies, 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, because it is said that this holiday derives from the Roman feast of Lupercalia. On the eve of this ancient festival, the names of all the young girls in the district were placed on slips of paper in a love urn. Each young man drew a name of the urn and the girl whose name was chosen was supposed to be his sweetheart for that year. But still 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 should be beheaded on the 14th of February. 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 this legend, Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that he fall in love with a young girl  who may have been his jailor's daughter, because she 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. So with all this its no surprise that by Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints all across England and France.

Valentines Day - Not Like it Used To Be

For eight hundred years, prior to the establishment of Valentine's Day, the Romans had practiced a pagan celebration in mid-February commemorating young men's rite of passage to the god Lupercus. The celebration featured a lottery in which young men would draw the names of teenage girls from a box. The girl assigned to each young man in that manner would be his sexual companion during the remaining year. In an effort to do away with the pagan festival, Pope Gelasius ordered a slight change in the lottery. Instead of the names of young women, the box would contain the names of saints. Both men and women were allowed to draw from the box, and the game was to emulate the ways of the saint they drew during the rest of the year. Needless to say, many of the young Roman men were not too pleased with those changes, because instead of the pagan god Lupercus, the Church looked for a suitable patron saint of love to take his place. They found an appropriate choice in Saint Valentine, whose legends were well known.