Valentine’s Day: the annual day of romance, roses, cards, hearts, chocolates, and maybe even wedding rings. At least, that’s what we’ve come to know of it. But how did this romantic holiday begin? You may be surprised by the religious, mysterious, bizarre, and bloody origins of the now-commercialized and cheery day of love. What is the history? Who was Saint Valentine, anyway?
There are a number of martyrdom stories associated with various Valentines connected to February 14, including an account of the imprisonment of Saint Valentine of Rome for ministering to Christians persecuted under the Roman Empire in the third century. According to an early tradition, Saint Valentine restored sight to the blind daughter of his jailer. Numerous later additions to the legend have better related it to the theme of love: an 18th-century embellishment to the legend claims he wrote the jailer’s daughter a letter signed “Your Valentine” as a farewell before his execution; another addition posits that Saint Valentine performed weddings for Christian soldiers who were forbidden to marry.
The Feast of Saint Valentine was established by Pope Gelasius I in AD 496 to be celebrated on February 14 in honour of Saint Valentine of Rome, who died on that date in AD 269. The day became associated with romantic love in the 14th and 15th centuries when notions of courtly love flourished, apparently by association with the “lovebirds” of early spring. In 18th-century England, it grew into an occasion in which couples expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as “valentines”). Valentine’s Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards. In Italy, Saint Valentine’s Keys are given to lovers “as a romantic symbol and an invitation to unlock the giver’s heart”, as well as to children to ward off epilepsy (called Saint Valentine’s Malady).
Cupid and Valentine’s Day |
The history of Valentine’s Day wouldn’t be complete without Cupid. But what’s the tie between Cupid and Valentine’s Day?
Before Cupid was a chubby little angel who shot love arrows, he was the handsome Greek god of love Eros. It was the Romans who turned him into what has become modern-day Cupid. Greek mythology is unclear on how Eros was conceived, but he was known for both his masculinity and his manipulation of both gods and mortals by toying with their emotions through the power of his arrows.
Cupid is believed to carry arrows that have tips made of two materials: Gold and lead. According to legend, if Cupid strikes someone with a gold arrow, they are filled with desire and love for their partner. If Cupid strikes them with a lead arrow, they fall out of love.
Heart |
The heart is a popular symbol used on Valentine’s Day. There are several theories surrounding how the heart symbol came to be. One states that the heart symbol is based off the seedpod of silphium, an ancient plant believed to help with conception, love, and sex. Another theory states artist and scientists in the Middle Ages attempted to draw the heart the way it was described by ancient scholars, and the drawing stuck.