Oh, Valentine’s Day. A day to gift your loved one with flowers, chocolates and teddy bears to let them know how much you love them. A day of hugs, kisses and romance. Who could ask for more in this world? A day of love!
The origin of Valentine’s Day is a bit murky and no one knows for sure how it came to be. Here, however, is what we (think) we know.
There are two parts to the story. First, a little background on the date, February 14. It appears that this date, or one close to it, was used as a pagan Roman lepercalia festival long before it was named after Saint Valentine. This festival, in one form or another, dates back to the 8th century BC. These roots sound simply barbaric today with the advent of women’s rights and sexual equality, as part of the festival required a young man to draw a name in a lottery and the prize was a young woman to keep as a sexual partner for a anus. We can only hope that women will put their name in the draw voluntarily! So how did the Lepercalia Festival become what we know as Valentine’s Day? Let’s turn our attention to Valentine.
The best guess is that Valentine was a bishop, or perhaps just a priest, in the third century AD. This was an unpleasant time to be a Christian. The Roman emperors did not like the Christians and spent a great deal of energy persecuting and killing them. It was in this climate that we understand that Valentín lived.
There are two stories that are attributed to Valentine’s ministry. One is that he, despite the emperor’s prohibition, continued to preach the word of Christ even to the guards when he was in prison. The other seems more suited to the Valentine’s Day theme. Historians tell us that Claudius II was trying to add men to his army to expand the Roman Empire and the order was that all single men had to serve when called upon. Claudius II decreed the prohibition of marriage and the breaking of all commitments. The legend is that Valentine defied this ban and thing of marrying couples anyway.
Whether for preaching or marrying lovers against the emperor’s wishes, Valentine ended up in prison. It is rumored that while he was there, he became very fond of the jailer’s daughter. Just before he was executed on February 14, 270, he wrote a note to her daughter and signed it “from your Valentine”. Quite a familiar greeting, isn’t it?
So how did the Lupercalia festival become Valentine’s Day? Well, by 469, Christianity had a pretty strong foothold and was working to replace the pagan holidays with ones more acceptable to Christianity. Pope Gelasius apparently did not like the sexual partner lottery that was part of the Lepercalia Festival. So, he replaced the festival with Valentine’s Day. Many were very disappointed when the lottery was replaced by one of a very different kind. A lottery of saints was instituted and now men would draw lots to obtain the name of a saint and then emulate the saint of the year. Popular how to get a woman for the year? Doubtful…
As with humans, the old and the new have come together over the years. The lottery of the saints was eliminated, the threads of the Lepercalia Festival lasted, and the pairing of people through gifts of love emerged and is celebrated to this day, in the name of Valentine’s Day.