DALnetizen - The History of Valentine's Day

A Short History of St Valentine's Day

St Valentine's Day is one of a few global celebrations whose origin has long since been lost in the myth and mist of time. On the face of it, it would appear to be a fairly new celebration, given the Christian naming, however its origin stretches further into the past.

The 14th February started out as a festival rather more given over to sexual pleasures than romantic outpourings. The Romans celebrated this day as the festival of Lupercalia, a celebration of Juno, the Goddess of love. On the day cards would be drawn randomly to partner men and women together for the feast and the sexual games which were an integral part of it. This is most likely the origin of the Valentine's Card - although they don't tend to be given with such hedonistic ideas in mind these days.

When Christianity started to become popular throughout Europe, the devout set about systematically changing all the pagan festival days the Romans had so enjoyed, and replacing them with rather more austere Christian versions.

Naturally, the early church had a rather dim view of people spending the 14th of February indulging in unbridled sexual congress with total strangers, and then stuffing themselves with food and wine, so the devout cast around for a worthy saint to replace poor old Juno.

Enter Saint Valentine aka Valentinus. Rather conveniently, Valentinus had been martyred on 14th February. Unfortunately, Valentinus was known as an extremely chaste and pious man and not even vaguely schooled in the art of love. The church, however, was never one to let facts get in the way of a good ritual so set about inventing a history for Valentinus which would be more in line with their new 'festival of romance'.

So, from being the sort of chap who you'd avoid at all costs at a party, Valentinus was transformed into a romantic worthy of a Byron poem. A myth arose that Valentinus ignored a decree from Emperor Claudius II that there should be no marriage ceremonies and secretly wedding couples until he was caught, imprisoned and sentenced to death. To add even more romance around the history of Valentinus, a story sprang up that, whilst in jail, he cured the jailer's daughter of blindness and soon fell madly in love with each other. Then, on the day of his execution, he sent her a card expressing his love and signing off with "From your Valentine".

As is usually the case, however, pagan rituals survived despite the church's greatest efforts. Although cards were no longer drawn for random pairings, people continued to send messages on St Valentine's Day to those they wanted to reveal affection for.

The first proper Valentine's Card, decorated and containing poetry, is attributed to the imprisoned Charles, Duke of Orleans in 1415. He eased the pain of imprisonment by writing love verses to his wife. By the end of the 18th Century, manufactured Valentine's cards started to appear and became the most popular way to declare love. These early cards were exquisite; usually hand-painted and often decorated with real gold leaf, satins, silks and exotic feathers.

Today, commercialism has, many would say, ripped the heart out of Valentines. Cards are now pretty perfunctory and retailers push the idea of chocolates and roses as being the most appreciated symbol of love. However, for some the 14th February remains the one day of the year given over to romance and the purest of emotions.