Valentine’s Day merch hit the shelves of Walmart before January 1st. By now, the marketing gods have bombarded us with all things pink and chocolate. Restaurants serve up special (overpriced) dinners, and jewelers suggest diamonds are the true gem of the month. My husband, who surprised me with a Valentine’s proposal years ago, now scoffs at the “Hallmark Holiday.” I don’t buy the hype either, and when I dug into the history of February 14th, I found some surprisingly dark stories. The origins of Valentine’s Day are muddy, but most historians link the day to Roman martyrs of the 3th century and/or an ancient Roman fertility feast called Lupercalia.
Doesn’t exactly bring red roses to mind, does it?
St. Valentine the martyr
First, let’s look at St. Valentine. Actually, there were supposedly three St. Valentines, all of whom were martyred. I found the most consistent information about a priest named Valentine who lived in Rome during the 3rd Century AD. At the time, Emperor Claudius II ruled the land. Claudius decided that single men made better soldiers than those who were married and had families. So, Claudius banned all marriages and engagements. (Brilliant strategy for maintaining the Roman birth rate, no?) Valentine saw the injustice (foolishness?) of the anti-marriage law and continued to marry couples in secret.
When Claudius II found out about Valentine’s activities, he ordered him jailed, clubbed to death, and beheaded. Supposedly, the martyr had befriended or fallen in love with his jailer’s daughter during his time in prison. Before his death, he wrote a note to this woman signed, “From your Valentine,” unknowingly launching a greeting card sentiment to last for centuries. Valentine was reportedly martyred on February 14, 270 AD. According to Lives of the Saints by Richard McBrien, the feast for Valentine was suppressed in the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic church calendar, even though it is still celebrated in popular culture.
Roman feast of Lupercalia
Valentine’s Day could also have come about as a reaction to a Roman pagan celebration, Lupercalia. This fertility festival, held in the middle of February, honored Faunus, the Roman God of Agriculture. It also celebrated the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. According to History.com, the feast began with a sacrifice. The Luperci, an order of Roman priests, gathered at a cave where supposedly Romulus and Remus lived as infants under the care of a she wolf. (Lupus is Latin for wolf.) At the cave, the Luperci sacrificed a goat for fertility and a dog for purification. They skinned the goat and dipped strips of the hide in animal’s blood to anoint women and fields to promote fertility. History.com claims the women were “lightly slapped” with the strips. In an NPR story from 2011, Yale Religious Studies professor Noel Lenski claimed the women were whipped. Lenski also stated the feast involved a lot of drinking and nakedness. As part of Lupercalia, women put their names in a jar, and single men in their community picked a name. The two would be paired up for the days of the feast, or maybe even as long as a year.
Not surprisingly, the Roman Catholic church did not approve of Lupercalia. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius I outlawed the Lupercalia festival and officially made February 14th Valentine’s Day. Yet the association with fertility and love remained.
Valentines through history
Later, during the Middle Ages, the holiday gained popularity in Europe as a celebration of love. The people of France and England recognized mid-February as the beginning of bird mating season. This led to an association between romance and February 14th. The British poet Geoffrey Chaucer immortalized Valentine’s Day as a celebration of love in his poem “Parliament of Fowls,” written in 1375. Here are the key lines:
“For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.”
Valentine cards and notes appeared shortly thereafter in the 1400s. The oldest known Valentine was written by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. The British Library of London currently holds Charles’ poem in its manuscript collection.
Now that you know more about the history of this February holiday, will you still indulge in flowers and chocolate? Despite its dubious history, we can embrace modern, practical ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day. First, indulge in self-love on February 14th, which might include staying off social media and using the time to do something that feeds your spirit. If you’d like to extend love to others, send notes to people you care about or who need a cheerful greeting.
How will you celebrate Valentine’s Day this year? Tell me in the comments!
Thanks for getting nerdy with me!
