Valentine's Day by Lynne Benton

 

 I apologise for repeating the Blog I posted last year - strangely enough, St Valentine's Day always falls on the day of my post, so just in case anyone missed it last year, here it is again!

Since today is Valentine’s Day, I thought I might investigate how the day dedicated to the spirit of romance first came about.

Valentine’s day, also called St. Valentine’s Day, is the day when, traditionally, lovers express their love with greetings and gifts.  One suggestion is that the holiday was inspired by/originated in the Roman festival of Lupercalia, which was always held in mid-February to celebrate the coming of spring.  Lupercalia, however, was something of a wild celebration, known for its excessive merriment and such distinctive fertility rituals as the lashing of women by men using the hides of sacrificed animals.  At the end of the 5^th century Pope Gelasius 1, perhaps in an effort to end such pagan festivities, inaugurated a feast day to commemorate Valentine on the saint’s execution date.

Valentine’s day wasn’t celebrated as a day of romance until about the fourteenth century, when scholars believe it came about from Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem "The Parlement of Foules", which he wrote in 1380-90, since the earliest letters between lovers referring to St Valentine’s Day began to appear soon after the poem’s publication.

So who was St. Valentine?  There were several Christian martyrs named Valentine, but the day may have been named after a priest who was martyred in around 270 CE by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus.  Valentine, while in prison, allegedly befriended (or in some versions of the story, fell in love with) his jailer’s daughter, whom he also miraculously cured of blindness.  The night before his execution, he is said to have written her a farewell message and signed off with “Your Valentine.”

Or the holiday could have been named after St Valentine of Terni, a bishop,  It is also possible that the two saints were actually one person.  There is another common legend about St Valentine defying the emperor’s orders and marrying couples in secret to spare the husbands from going to war.  This could be why his feast day is associated with love.

Valentines themselves, or messages of love, appeared in the 1500s, and by the late 1700s commercially printed cards were sent between lovers. The first commercial valentines in the United States were printed in the mid-1800s, commonly depicting Cupid, the Roman god of love, along with hearts, traditionally supposed to be the seat of emotion.  Birds too became a symbol of the day, following the belief that the birds’ mating season begins in mid-February.  Traditional gifts include chocolates  and flowers, particularly red roses, a symbol of beauty and love.

The day is popular in the US, where one of the most enduring traditions is the classroom card exchange.  Each year, typically, elementary school children choose a box of valentines featuring their latest favourite superhero, princess, snack or Internet Meme, fill out a card for each of their classmates, and distribute the cards among their peers’ decorated shoeboxes during class time.  While a fun diversion for kids, especially if they persuaded their parents to splurge on cards including stickers or glow sticks, parents have complained about the custom for years, and wonder how a holiday ostensibly meant to celebrate romance was usurped by children.  More importantly, though, they may ask:  why do we give Valentine cards anyway?

 

As well as the UK and the US it is also celebrated in Canada, Australia and other countries including Argentina, France, Mexico and South Korea.  In the Philippines it is the most common wedding anniversary, and mass weddings of hundreds of couples are not uncommon on that date.  The holiday has expanded to expressions of affection among relatives and friends.  Many schoolchildren exchange valentines with one another on this day.  And in February of this year the Indian government appealed to citizens to mark Valentine’s Day this year as “Cow Hug Day” to promote Hindu values, rather than a celebration of romance.

But I think I'd settle for a card.  Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

website: lynnebenton.com