When I began this serial musing, I started honing in on very specific traditions, like why we eat turkey at Thanksgiving and why we put up Christmas trees. Although I want to continue with the specifics, I thought it would be pertinent to get the general overview of things first, before diving into the nitty-gritty.
So what’s up with Valentine’s Day? Besides the obligatory feeling to either be with someone when you’re single, or to get your significant other chocolates and roses.
WHO
Who is responsible for Valentine’s Day? There are some key players and two possible suspects. Here’s the breakdown:
KEY PLAYERS
Roman Emperor Claudius II: got the brilliant idea that single men make better soldiers than those married and/or married with children. So, what’s a patriarchal man-leader who wants to win wars do but outlaw marriage for young men? This occurred in the third century. There is no Valentine’s Day without the heartless decree Claudius cast; we’ll get there soon.
Pope Gelasius I: his brilliant idea was to combine St. Valentine’s Day with Lupercalia. This was in the fifth century, and it was in order to get rid of the pagan rituals that occurred during this time. We will get back to Lupercalia later.
Geoffrey Chaucer: that medieval writer that most of us had to study in high school, trying to decipher his magnum opus, The Canterbury Tales. In 1375, Chaucer wrote a poem that many historians believe really marked the beginning of what we know Valentine’s Day to be, which is celebrating with one significant other.
Esther A. Howland: nicknamed “Mother of the Valentine,” Esther does not come into play until much later. She is however, particularly responsible for the exchanging of Valentine greetings as we know it because of her creation of intricately detailed cards done up with lace, ribbons, and scraps of pictures. Her father was the owner of a stationary and book store, which is why she was able to get her cards mass-produced and out into the world.
SUSPECTS: St. Valentine. There are actually dozens of St. Valentine’s throughout history, but when looking for the one surrounding the mid-February celebration, it gets narrowed down to two: the St. Valentines of Rome. Here are the possible identities of the saint in question:
He was a third century Roman bishop, St. Valentine of Terni.
He was a third century priest in Rome.
There is so much mystery and unknowns surrounding St. Valentine, that we can’t be sure if the legends surrounding the name are about one or both of these men.
WHAT
THE FEAST OF ST. VALENTINE
The Catholic Church began celebrating these saints with an annual feast from around 500 AD to 1969, when it was removed from the Roman Catholic calendar because of all the unreliable and contradicting information surrounding the history of St. Valentine. The feast was to honor both saints because they had both been Christian martyrs. Here are some of the legends that contribute to the reputation of St. Valentine, the Patron Saint of Love:
It is said that he performed secret marriages in defiance of Claudius II’s outlawing of marriage. He may or may not have worn a ring marked with Cupid so that young couples could identify him.
He might have handed out paper hearts to remind Christians of their love for God.
There seems to have been a moment when St. Valentine was captured, and he became acquainted with the jailer’s daughter, possibly named Julia. Versions of this story claim that he befriended her and healed her from blindness. Others say that they fell in love.
There is a possibility that he sent the very first Valentine of all, writing a letter to a woman he loved (perhaps Julia), signing it, “from your Valentine.”
According to some sources, both St. Valentines of Rome were executed on February 14th, just years apart sometime in the third century.
LUPERCALIA
Did you watch CAOS (S2E3)? Then you may have a few details under your belt. This was a festival celebrated by the ancient Romans—the Pagan ones. Here are the brief details:
Lupercalia would always begin with a sacrifice, then be followed by a feast, and end with the pairing off of single peoples.
The Luperci, a group of Roman priests, sacrificed a goat (for fertility) and a dog (for purification). Then, two naked Luperci members would be smeared on the forehead with the blood from the knife that performed the sacrifice. They wouldn’t wear this blood for long though, because afterwards, it would be washed off with a piece of wool soaked in milk. Apparently, the two nude Luperci would laugh as the blood was removed. Why they did this is as curious to me as it may be to you.
The Roman men would then run around nude, or closely so, while lightly whipping women with the goat’s hides dipped in the sacrificial blood. These whips were also called “thongs.” The women would willingly line up to be hit, because there was a belief that this was to bring fertility for the year to come.
Women would put their names in a jar or urn , and the men would draw one out. This was how couples were paired for the rest of the festival, and beyond if things went well, possibly for at least a year, and usually ended in marriage. And, Lupercalia was a fertility festival, so lots of sexual romping would occur with these paired partners.
Pope Gelasius I deemed Lupercalia un-Christian, and tried to eliminate the pagan ritual by celebrating St. Valentines Day instead.
GALATIN’S DAY
This was one I had never heard of, and it was celebrated by the Normans (those from Normandy, or ancestrally Vikings from Scandanavia) around the time of Pope Gelasius. It is possible that because Galatin sounds confusingly similar to Valentine, that these two celebrations got confused, especially because Galatin literally means “lover of women.”
I personally find this amusing in that it sounds remarkably like Galentine’s Day, though I highly doubt Leslie Knope was aware of this when she created it.
WHERE
It is pretty apparent by now that these celebrations probably originated in Ancient Rome, first with Lupercalia, then with the Christianized celebration of St. Valentine.
Similar celebrations were held in other places, though. In Ancient Greece, there was a different mid-winter celebration, but this was to commemorate the marriage between Zeus and his wife, Hera.
In France and England, around the time of the Middle Ages, it was believed that February 14th was the beginning of the birds’ mating season.
The holiday began to take off in popularity in Britain and Europe with the help of Chaucer and Shakespeare by adding the holiday into their written works.
Over time, it is obvious that these celebrations of love and lovers that occurred only continued to spread, including to the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Australia, where the holiday is celebrated today.
WHEN
It doesn’t need to be stated, but most of us are aware that our current celebration of Valentine’s Day occurs every year on February 14th. Here is a general timeline, though, of how we may have gotten to this point:
Lupercalia is tracked back as far as the 6th century B.C. (before common era/before year 1).
Lupercalia is documented both as occurring from February 13th-15th and on the ides of February, or February 15th.
3rd century A.D. (Anno Domini/after year 1) is when both St. Valentine’s were beheaded and martyred in Rome by Emperor Claudius II.
5th century A.D. is when Pope Gelasius I tried to stomp out the pagan rituals with Christian ones. It is believed that he chose February 14th not only to honor the deaths of the saints Valentine, but also to be adjacent to Lupercalia in the hopes to replace it. This is also when the Normans were celebrating Galatin’s Day.
Around 500 A.D. is when the Catholic Church officially began celebrating St. Valentine’s day with a feast, adding it to their religious calendar.
In 1375, Chaucer wrote his poem, “Parliament of Foules,” which is the first known recording of Valentine’s Day as a celebration of lovers.
“For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.”
After the year 1400, written Valentines began to be given.
Popularity of the holiday began to escalate in Great Britain in the 1600’s.
The actual exchanging of small gifts began to take place in the 1700’s.
In the 1800’s, the Industrial Revolution gave us mass production of factory-made cards. Specifically in the 1840’s is when our dear Esther A. Howard, Mother of the Valentine, began selling her cards.
In 1913, Hallmark Cards began its mass-production of Valentines from Kansas City, Missouri.
In 1969, St. Valentine’s Day is removed from the official calendar of the Catholic Church.
WHY
Here we are, at the answer to my question: why do we, citizens of the 21st century, celebrate Valentine’s Day? From my gathered research, in my opinion, we celebrate due to a culmination of traditions, harvested here and there throughout the centuries. Through these harvests, the most abundant of all that has grown through time, is the celebration of love and lovers. But let me break it down, so you may easily form your own conclusion:
St. Valentine’s Day was celebrated to honor the martyred saints of the name, who’s legends revolve around love and marriage, making St. Valentine the Patron Saint of Love (or Lovers). This was started by the Catholic Church, and is what I will categorize as the Christian celebration.
Valentine’s Day was possibly a renaming of Lupercalia, in an attempt to Christianize the pagan rituals. For Lupercalia, the festival was a celebration to honor Faunus, the god of agriculture, as well as Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. This is what I would categorize as the Pagan celebration.
For those less into the warm and fuzziness of it all, we could just conclude that Valentine’s Day is celebrated now because we simply bought into the commercialism, once those beautiful, mass-produced cards became readily available to consume.
HOW
How was it celebrated then, and how is it celebrated now?
THEN:
via a Catholic Feast Day on February 14th, if you were a Christian.
via the fertility festival of Lupercalia if you were Pagan.
exchanging of small gifts, tokens, or cards
NOW:
dinner and/or gift exchanges with a significant other, as small or extravagant as the gifter decides
the colors of Valentine’s Day traditionally are red and white. Some believe this came from that Lupercalian sacrifice: red represents the blood shed, the white the milk used to wash it away.
SAD or Singles Awareness Day
Palentine’s Day
Galentine’s Day
A VALENTINE FROM ME TO YOU
I hope you enjoyed digging into the history and origins of Valentine’s Day as much as I did. Whether you are single or coupled (or troupled), I wish you a very happy Valentine’s Day, however you wish to celebrate or not celebrate it.
With my previous two Why Do We Do That posts, I included a playlist. If you’ve read them, then you know I am a lover of tradition. So, please enjoy a Valentine’s Day playlist curated by yours truly.
If you have not already, please subscribe. If you have already, please consider referring a friend. I cannot grow without you.
Thanks again, and Happy Valentine’s Day!
XOXO-Jitsie
Sources:
"The Normans – Who Were the Normans and What Did They Do?" History on the Net © 2000-2024, Salem Media. February 8, 2024 https://www.historyonthenet.com/the-normans-who-were-the-normans
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "St. Valentine". Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Oct. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Valentine. Accessed 8 February 2024.
Seipel, Arnie. “The Dark Origins of Valentine’s Day”. NPR, February 14, 2022. https://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133693152/the-dark-origins-of-valentines-day. Accessed 8 February 2024.
History.com Editors. “History of Valentine’s Day”. HISTORY, December 22, 2009. https://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day-2 Accessed 8 February 2024.
Real Simple Editors. “The History of Valentine's Day, and Why We Celebrate”. Real Simples, January 25, 2024. https://www.realsimple.com/holidays-entertaining/holidays/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day#toc-is-valentines-day-a-holiday Accessed 8 February 2024.