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Home > History > On This Day |
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Valentines DayWhether or not you are a fan of Valentines Day it is always difficult to miss it and in recent years the way we celebrate it has changed considerably. From cards and flowers to and from girlfriends/boyfriends, wives/ husbands, loved ones are whisked off on day trips to Europe with Paris and Venice being among the popular destinations. But where did this celebration come from?The tale of St. Valentine has many facets and mysteries. The catholic church itself recognises at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus who all became martyrs. In Roman times Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage as he felt men without wives and families made better soldiers. Knowing how unfair this was Valentine continued to marry couples in secret but was eventually found out and Claudius had him killed.A similar story alleges he was killed because he helped Christians escape from the Roman prisons and the beatings and torture which they would surely have had to endure. Another story has him sending the first Valentine message. The story says that while he was in prison himself he fell in love with a young girl, probably the jailor's daughter, who used to come and visit him. Just before he died he is said to have written to her signing the note off 'from your Valentine' - words we still see used today.
Commemorating St. Valentine in the middle of February is believed by some to represent the date St. Valentine died or was buried around 270 AD. Another theory is that the Christian Church chose the 14th February in an effort to 'Christianise' the pagan fertility festival of Lupercalia which the Ancient Romans celebrated in February. The Romans believed that February was the beginning of Spring and a time for purification - probably where today's 'Spring Cleaning' comes from. Lupercalia began on 15th February when an order of Roman priest called Luperci would meet at the sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf. They would then sacrifice and goat for fertility and a dog for purification. The fields and all the women would then be slapped with pieces of the goats hide soaked in the blood and everyone welcomed this because they believed it would improve fertility of themselves and the land. Later in the day all the young women would put their names in a large urn, the young men would then choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen girl. These matches often lasted into marriage. It was Pope Gelasius who set aside 14th February to honour St. Valentine around 496/498 AD and the choosing a girl's name from the urn ceremony was outlawed as being unchristian.
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Saturday, 5 July, 2008 | ||
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