Did You Know...? A Little Story About Valentine's Day
Did You Know That...
...Valentine's Day is the second largest card sending holiday of
the year, second only to Christmas?
...Women purchase about 85% of Valentine's?
...Valentine's Day is also celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the
United Kingdom, Italy, France, and Australia?
...In February 2004, $2.4 billion worth of jewelry was purchased?
While some things can be known about the origins of Valentine's
Day, one thing we don't know for sure is just where or when we
began celebrating amore, although there have been many stories
told over the years. I've been reading a few of the legends and
myths and I want to share them with you. I have my favorite. Now
you pick yours.
The Stories About Saint Valentine
One story alleges that Valentine was a priest living in the 3rd
century in Rome. His story is deeply enmeshed with that of the
Emperor Claudius II (aka: Claudius the Cruel), who ruled Rome at
this time. Claudius was involved in many wars around Rome, but
he could not convince many men to leave their wives and
families. His solution was to outlaw marriage and cancel all
engagements. The men would then be able to focus on waging war.
Valentine, believing this law to be unjust, began marrying
couples in secret. When Claudius discovered what Valentine was
doing, it is said that he had him executed.
Another story has Claudius killing Valentine for helping
Christians escape the Roman prisons, where they were regularly
beaten and tortured.
Yet a third story claims that Valentine was put to death for
curing the jailor's daughter of her blindness. She frequently
visited Valentine while he was jailed. They were said to have
fallen in love. In fact, Valentine may have originated the
tradition of sending written avowals of love and romance. Prior
to being put to death, Valentine allegedly wrote a letter to
her, signing it "From your Valentine", an expression we continue
to use today. It is believed that he was executed on February
14, 269 A.D. Thus, Saint Valentine became both a romantic and a
hero.
The Feast of Lupercalia
The Feast of Lupercalia may have been the first legend told
surrounding the beginnings of Valentine's Day. Lupercalia, a
fertility festival celebrated on February 15, was a celebration
to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture. Lupercalia was also a
dedication to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. Lupercus was
said to watch over the shepherd's flocks, keeping then safe from
wolves. The Roman priests would sacrifice both a goat and a dog
to begin the festival. The goat represented fertility, while the
dog symbolized purification.
The goat's hide was then sliced into strips and dipped into the
sacrificial blood. The men went out into the streets, gently
slapping the women with the goathide strips. The women welcomed
this gesture as they believed it would make them more fertile in
the year ahead. Later in the day, all the single women's names
were placed in an urn. The bachelor men would pull a name from
the urn. The couple would spend much time together over the next
year and many of these pairings resulted in marriage.
The Feast of Lupercalia continued for centuries. As Christianity
began to take hold though, the priests strived to replace the
heathen practices by substituting the names of saints for the
girls names. Those drawing from the urn would then aspire to
imitate the lives of the saint whose name they had drawn. While
the priests wished to abolish the pagan traditions, they sought
to keep the festival flavor of feasts and sports. Thus,
Lupercalia became Valentine's Day.
Traditions Over the Ages
The origins of our modern valentines most likely date back to
the early 1400's. While he was a prisoner in the Tower of
London, the French Duke of Orleans wrote many, many poems and
valentines to his wife. Some of these remain and are on display
at the British Museum in London. Flowers became popular gifts
about 200 years later in France.
Americans began the tradition of exchanging hand-made
valentine's in the early 1700's. Presently, every February, all
across America, we celebrate our love and our loved ones on
Valentine's Day with gifts, flowers, candy, and Valentine's
greeting cards. Saint Valentine became the patron saint of
lovers and we continue to celebrate the spirit of love and
sentiment and good feelings.