Today’s Valentine’s Day: a festival of love, filled with cards, chocolates and flowers; it all began every 14 February (Valentine’s Day of the Year). Yet the story behind today's day is much older and more complex than that. It can be traced back to ancient Roman ritual worship, Christian practices of worship or medieval poetry. In all its forms these influences developed the holiday into the romantic celebration of every century we experience today.
Ancient Roman Beginnings
Even years before Valentine’s Day was associated with romance, Romans held an event in mid-February named Lupercalia. It was a fertility festival, full of sacrifices and matchmaking. It represented cleansing and rebirth, heralding the movement from winter to spring. As Christianity spread, many more pagan customs were substituted or reformulated, and Lupercalia waned, but its timing had its impact on the date of Valentine’s Day.
The Legend of St. Valentine
The History of St. It is named after St. Valentine, the Christian priest in Rome in the 3rd century. He is believed to be one of the first to try to make Emperor Claudius II's marriage unspeakable, even as Claudius II commanded the Roman Emperor to hold soldiers captive when they were prohibited in a wedding service. Valentine was sentenced to death, martyred and his martyrdom became synonymous with love and sacrifice. Details differ, but his legend helped establish the connection between February 14 and ideas of devotion.
Medieval Poetry and Romance
The romantic charm of Valentine’s Day grew stronger in the Middle Ages. Writers such as Geoffrey Chaucer linked February 14 with the mating season of birds, representing the marriage, the date of love and partnership, with bird life. This poetic ceremony made it a romance day, and people were inspired to exchange notes and tokens of appreciation.
Evolution into Modern Traditions
By the seventeenth century, Valentine’s Day was now widely celebrated in England with handwritten love notes. During the 18th and 19th centuries, printed cards gained in popularity, and in the end, mass-produced Valentine’s cards were introduced in America and throughout the world. The holiday now extends far beyond couples to include anyone who loves in any shapes; romantic, familial and platonic, to name a few.
Valentine’s Day is much more than a commercial holiday, it is the outcome of centuries of cultural change. From Roman rituals to Christian martyrdom, medieval poetry to modern cards, it has grown into a world celebration of love. Its history tells us that love, whatever its form, has always been central to human life.
