Origins of Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is an annual tribute to romantic love. It is celebrated on the 14th of February. On this day candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones.

There are a number of theories about the origin of Valentine's Day. St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, has both Christian and ancient Roman roots.

The first of these, concerns the time of "Claudius the Cruel", the Roman Emperor Claudius II. He believed that men did not want to leave their loves or families and needed a way to get them to leave their families. So, he cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome, hoping to get more soldiers to join his military leagues. Saint Valentine, who was a priest in Rome, in the year 269 A.D., and his friend Saint Marius, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. Valentine's actions were discovered and he was sentenced to death by beating. While he was in prison he fell in love with a young girl who visited him regularly. He died on the 14th of February and it is alleged that he wrote her a signed letter, believed to be the first Valentine's card. It is supposed that he had signed the note "from your Valentine".

Valentine's Day is also associated with the Feast of Lupercalia, a love festival honoring a pagan Roman god. This feast was traditionally held for two weeks beginning on February 15th. In 496 AD Pope Gelasius tried to limit the more pagan elements of the feast and changed the date of the festival to the 14th. At this time the Pope canonized Valentine, who became forever linked with the celebration of love and the commemoration of Valentine.

Valentine’s Day is about cards and gifts

By the eighteenth century Valentine's Day evolved into gift-giving and the exchange of hand-made cards made of lace, ribbons featuring cupids and hearts. The tradition of cards spread to the United States in the 1850s. In the United States, Miss Esther Howland is given credit for sending the first valentine cards. Commercial valentines were introduced in the 1800's.