s DayHistory of Valentine

February 14 marks a time to celebrate romance, love, and everything in between. Whether it’s spent with your significant other, family, friends, or yourself, Valentine’s Day should be filled with nothing but happiness and mushy feelings.

But the origins of this cupid-infested holiday are dark, bloody, and rather twisted.

While it’s unknown where the holiday began, what is known is the place... big surprise, it’s in Rome.

It all began with men hitting on women….literally.

It was said that from Feb. 13 to 15 the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia where the men sacrificed a goat and a dog. Then they would whip women with the hides of the animals they killed. Young naked women would line up for the men to hit them. Why might you ask? Because they believed that it would help make them fertile.

The brutal fiesta included a matchmaking lottery where men would randomly draw women’s names out of a jar and then for the remainder of the evening, or longer if the match went well, they would “couple” up.

The Romans are also said to be responsible for the name of our love-infested holiday. One legend suggests that the name came from Valentine who was a priest in Rome. When Emperor Claudius decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine defied Claudius and performed marriage rituals for secret lovers. He was discovered by the emperor and sentenced to death.

Some people insist that the name comes from Saint Valentine of Terni, a bishop, who was also beheaded by Claudius. According to another legend, an imprisoned Valentine sent the first “valentine”

greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl, some say his jailor’s daughter, who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, he wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine,” a phrase still used today.

While the truth behind the Valentine legends remains unknown, the stories still emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and of course romantic figure. In the 5th century, Pope Gelasius I combined St. Valentine’s Day with Lupercalia to get rid of pagan rituals. But the celebration was not as gory or nude as it once was. It was more of a drunken celebration, however, it still remained about fertility and love.

As years continued, the holiday grew more sentimental. Chaucer and Shakespeare began romanticizing it in their work helping the lovey-dovey holiday gain popularity in Britain and the rest of Europe. Handmade paper cards became the new “it” factor in the Middle Ages.

Eventually, St. Valentine’s Day made its way to the New World in the 19th century where the industrial revolution began to create factory-made cards. In 1913 Hallmark Cards began mass producing valentines. Since then, Valentine’s Day has never been the same.

Today, not only do 85% of women buy valentines but according to the Greeting Card Association 145 million Valentine’s cards are sent each year, making it the second most card-sending holiday of the year.

And so, the celebration of Valentine’s Day continues where instead of women being whipped by men they instead receive flowers, chocolates, cards, etc. It has become a holiday where love and romance have a deeper meaning.

“It all began with men hitting on women... literally.”

by Lauren Lippert