The Origin and History Of Valentine's Day

Valentine's day is celebrated among the love birds on the 14th of February each year. In most places around the world, flowers and gifts are given as an exchange for their love in commemoration of the person named St. Valentine.

In the Phillippines for instance, the 14th of February is the common date of marriage for hundreds of couples and it is considered a normal thing to host such an event on this date. But who is this person known as St. Valentine and where does this tradition actually come from?

Why is it still being celebrated to this day?

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Who Is Valentine?

The big question that comes to mind will be who is this person called Valentine? The catholic church has approved at least 3 priests with the name Valentine or Valentinus in which all of them were claimed to have died of martyrdom.

One legend showed that Valentine was a priest that served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II stated that all single men will become better soldiers than those that are married, he simply forbade young men from ever marrying.

Valentine realized the injustice of such a rule and went against Emperor Claudius. He managed to unite the loved ones into marriage in secrecy. However, not long after, Valentine's actions were known by the Emperor and he was ordered to be killed.

There are some out there that emphasize the name of Valentine's Day in conjunction with Saint Valentine of Terni who happens to be a bishop. He was also beheaded by Claudius II in Rome.

Other stories stated that Valentine might have been murdered due to his attempt in aiding the runaway of Christians from the extreme prison of Rome where the convicts were often beaten up and tortured.

According to one legend, a Valentine who was imprisoned was actually sending the first valentine's message after falling in love with a very young girl and perhaps could be the daughter of the person who puts him in prison in the first place.

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Before his death, it was known that Valentine wrote a letter to the girl with the signature stating, "From your Valentine", which is a common phrase to be used to this day.

Despite the truth behind this legend being unclear, the stories showed how Valentine was acting sympathetic, heroic, and most importantly romantic.

In the middle century and maybe due to his reputation, Valentine became one of the most popular and holiest individuals in England and France.

Replacing Lupercalia Festival

Even though there are still some out there who celebrated Valentine's Day in the midst of February to remember the annual death of Valentine, others claimed that the Christian church decided to do as such to Christianize the festival of Lupercalia.

Being held on the 15th of February, Lupercalia is a fertile festival dedicated to Faunus, the Rome God of Agriculture and the founder of Rome, Romulus, and Remus.

To start off this festival, the Luperci members, one ruler of the Roman priest will gather in a holy cave where the babies of Romulus and Remus, founder of Rome were believed to be taken care of by werewolves or Lupa.

The priest will sacrifice a lamb for fertility and also a dog for the purpose of cleansing. They will later skin the lamb and dip them into the blood of the sacrifice. It was later taken for a stroll and the skins of the goats were slowly being slapped onto the crops and women.

Without having any fear of such a ceremony, the Roman women will oblige the touch of the goats' skin to themselves as they believed in becoming more fertile in the days to come. Later according to the legend, all the young women of the city will place their names into a massive vase.

All the single men of the city will choose the name randomly and become a couple with the chosen one which will later end up in marriage.

Pope Gelasius

The Lupercalia festival was safe from the rise of early Christians but was later forbidden from ever being celebrated due to being considered "not Christian" in the late 5th century. At the time, Pope Gelasius announced 14th February as the day of Valentine's.

However, not long after that day became related to love. During the middle ages, it was constantly believed that the French and English celebrated 14 February as the start of bird mating season which then added the idea of Valentine's being the day of love.

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First Message of Valentine

Geoffrey Chaucer

English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to have stated that Valentine's Day was the festival of romanticism in his poetry, Parlimen Foules in 1375. He wrote,

For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day/When every foul cometh ther to choose his mate

This means that Valentine's day was the day when all the birds went out to seek their partner. His speech or message became so popular in the middle century despite Valentine not even starting until the 1400s.

The oldest Valentine to exist to this day will be the poetry that has been written by Charles, Duke of Orleans in 1415. It was meant for his wife when he was prisoned in the London Tower following his arrest in the Agincourt Battle.

A few years later it was believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to write a Valentine's message to Catherine of Valois.

Even to this day, Valentine's day is still celebrated in Western countries.

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