Valentine’s Day is a day mixed with many feelings and emotions. Whether you love it or hate it, it is a day that has come to be a day of love. People who hate Valentine’s Day often change their minds when they meet that special someone. For those who already have that special someone, Valentine’s Day is a great day for them to exchange small tokens of love and to spend as much time as they can together.
But where do these traditions come from? There are many theories, but the one that seems to be told the most has to do with a certain Saint Valentine who lived during the Third Century under the Roman Emperor Claudius III. The emperor decided that single men made better soldiers, so he outlawed marriage for young men.
Christianity was an up and coming religion, with many enemies. The emperors were afraid of Christianity taking over the empire. Thousands of Christians were massacred by the Roman government, and few men stood up against them. Those who did stand became saints in the Christian church, and Valentine was one of those loved people.
St. Valentine wanted to keep to his Christian faith, so he secretly married couples in the catacombs that the Christians had built under the city of Rome. One story claims that St. Valentine fell in love with the daughter of the prison guard, and they wrote love letters to each other. Supposedly, St. Valentine would sign his notes, “from your Valentine.”
Another story is that Claudius had him killed right away. Many believe that Valentine died around 270 A.D.in the month of February, and that is why we celebrate during this month. Others believe the Christian Church decide to celebrate in February in an effort to Christianize pagan celebrations. More specifically during the Roman Festival of Lupricalia, the men and women would pick names from a pot. The men and women chosen stayed together the full year and often married.
In 498 A.D., Pope Gelasius named February 14 Valentine’s Day. He deemed the love lottery un-Christian and banned the event from taking place.
Who’s to say that the art of writing a Valentine’s Day love letter was not known in the Middle Ages? Charles, Duke of Orleans, wrote the oldest written Valentine’s love letter in 1415. He wrote this letter to his wife from the Tower of London after he was captured at the Battle of Agincourt. This letter is being held in the British Library in London.
By the end of the 18th Century, the printing press was widespread, and people began sending pre-made letters to loved ones. This became a much easier and efficient way to show their love. By the 1840’s Esther A. Howland began to sell the first mass-produced valentines in America.
An estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year. Christmas has the most greeting cards sent, with an amazing 2.6 billion cards sent. The U.S. is not the only country that celebrates Valentine’s Day. Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia also celebrate it.