All over the world on February 14th, many flowers, cards and gifts will be exchanged between loved ones as Valentine’s Day is celebrated.
However, the history of why we celebrate this day is a mystery.
The Valentine’s Day tradition blends elements from both the ancient Roman rites and the Christian tradition. Just to confuse things further, the Catholic Church recognizes three different saints named Valentine.
One legend is that Valentine was a priest in Rome during the third century. Emperor Claudius II decreed that marriage was forbidden for young men, as he thought that single men made better soldiers than those who were married with families.
Valentine, felt that the decree was unfair and unjust, and defied the Emperor by performing secret marriages for the young lovers. When his actions for the undercover lovers were discovered, Claudius ordered Valentine to be executed. Variations of this legend say that Valentine was sentenced to death for trying to help other Christians escape from the harsh Roman prisons where they were often tortured.
According to another legend, Valentine may have sent the first “Valentine” greeting himself in 270 AD. C., the day before he was executed for refusing to renounce his Christian beliefs. He allegedly sent a thank you note to his jailer’s blind daughter for bringing her food and delivering messages while he was incarcerated, signed “from your Valentine.”
While we can never be sure of the true origin of the Saint Valentine legend, one thing is for sure, it must have been an enticing and enduring story because by the Middle Ages, Valentine had become one of the most popular saints in France. and Great Britain.
The temporal observance of his saint’s day may have been prompted by the common practice of trying to integrate earlier pagan festivals into the Christian calendar. in this case, the festival of the Lupercalias.
In ancient Rome, February was seen as the beginning of spring and was considered a time of purification. Houses were ritually cleaned by sweeping and then sprinkling salt and wheat all over the interiors (we still refer to spring cleaning to this day).
Lupercalia, which began on the ‘ides (15) of February’, was a fertility festival dedicated to the agricultural god Lupercus and the goddess of love, Juno, as well as the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. Roman maidens placed their names in an urn installed in public squares and single young men drew from it to obtain a ‘blind date’ for the following year. More often than not, these annual matches often ended in marriage.
Valentine’s Day was established on February 14 by Pope Gelasius, around AD 500. At the time, the ‘lottery’ system for dating was considered unchristian and had been banned. During the Middle Ages, the practice of love lotteries continued as ‘Cajas de Azar’. In France, the lotteries of the boxes assign couples a year to marry or separate from the company. In England, it was common practice for men to wear the name of the girl they drew from the lucky boxes on her sleeve, surrounded by a heart.
Also at this time, it was commonly believed in parts of England and France that February 14 marked the beginning of the mating season for birds, which increased the notion that Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance. .
Valentine messages began to appear in the early 15th century, and even in these formative times they were often given anonymously, perhaps recalling the unknown recipients of Roman lotteries.
The oldest known Valentine still in existence today was a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. The salutation, which was written in 1415, is part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London.
In the UK, Valentine’s Day became a popular celebration around the 17th century. It continued to take hold, with the familiar lines “roses are red, violets are blue” making its debut sometime in the 17th century. In the 1850s, it was common for lovers of all walks of life to give their loved ones small gifts or handwritten letters. At the same time, in France, people began to decorate their Valentine’s cards with ribbons and lace.
In the early 20th century, handwritten letters gave way to cards, as advances in printing technology improved the quality of printed cards. At the time, it was culturally discouraged for people to display their emotions as directly as a card, so a printed card was a more acceptable method. More affordable postage costs and the increasing use of the postal system probably contributed to the rise in popularity of the Valentine’s card.
Americans probably began exchanging handmade valentines with verses in the early 18th century. In the mid-19th century, the first mass-produced Valentine’s Day cards began to go on sale in the United States. Miss Esther Howland, an artist and businesswoman, became the first regular publisher of Valentine’s Day cards in the United States. Often referred to as “Valentine’s Mother,” Miss Howland designed many elaborate creations using lace, ribbon, and colorful patterns known as “scrap.” Her cards generally cost between $5 and $10 each, with some as high as $35, surprisingly expensive for the time.
The Greeting Card Association estimates that if we include Valentine’s cards from children’s classrooms, more than a billion Valentine’s cards will be opened this year. Valentine’s Day is the second busiest time of year to send cards, accounting for 25% of all seasonal card sales (Christmas accounts for 60%).
It’s estimated that women buy 80 percent of all Valentine’s Day cards, which means a large proportion of men forget or aren’t very romantic when it comes to reciprocating. Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the US, Canada, Mexico, UK, France and Australia, and its popularity is increasing in many other parts of the world.
Facts about Valentine’s Day cards (from the Greeting Card Association)
About 25% of individual Valentines are humorous, with adults under 35 being the most likely to send humorous cards. Valentine’s Day is the biggest eCard-sending occasion of the year. An estimated 14 million e-valentines will be sent in 2008. Greeting cards are traditionally the most popular Valentine’s Day gift in the US, beating chocolates, flowers or dinner. American men may take Valentine’s Day more seriously than women. In a 2007 GCA national survey, 45% of women said they would probably give their partner a fun Valentine’s Day, compared to just 34% of men. The percentage of individual Valentine’s cards exchanged by mail compared to hand delivery is approximately 50-50. Red is the most popular color choice for Valentine’s cards, followed by pink and then white. Hearts, roses, Cupid and lace are traditional icons of Valentine’s cards.
