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The Origins of
Saint Valentine and Valentine's Day On February 14, Valentine's Day, millions of sweethearts will exchange valentines. Who was Saint Valentine and why do we celebrate it? HistorySources disagree, but according to the Hallmark Historical Collection, at least eight St. Valentines have existed. The most popular, by far, was a third-century young Christian martyr, Valentinus. Imprisoned for failing to worship false gods, Valentinus became friends with the jailor's young, blind daughter. Legend records that he restored her sight shortly before his execution on February 14, 269 AD. He sent the maiden a farewell signed, "from your Valentine." The Roman calendar marks February 14 as the feast day of two third century Roman martyrs, both named St. Valentine. Some historians, however, believe the two martyrs were one and the same. Until AD 494, the Romans celebrated their pagan love festival of Lupercalia on February 15 in honor of Faunus, the god of flocks and fertility, ensuring the fertility of people, fields and flocks for the year. Pope Gelasius replaced the popular festival with the Christian Feast of the Purification of the Virgin in 494 to try and stop the pagan celebration. Although the celebration ceased, Lupercalia left its mark on Saint Valentine's Day. St. Valentine is the patron saint of lovers. Origins of ValentinesAs early as the Middle Ages, lovers recited or sang valentine greetings to their sweethearts, since few could read or write. In 1415, the Frenchman Charles, duke of Orleans, made the first known written valentine. Some of his valentine poems that he wrote while imprisoned by the English are in the British Museum. Part of the Roman festival of Lupercalia was the putting of girl's names in a box and letting the boys draw them out. The boys then courted those girls for the whole year. A similar practice of matching of sweethearts by lot occurred during the fourteenth century to correspond to the belief that the springtime mating of birds took place on Valentine's Day. Messages sent between these randomly chosen pair were a forerunner of the modern Valentine's Day Card. Specially printed card for Valentine's were just becoming common by the 1780's. They were a big hit in Germany where they were called Freundschaftkarten, or "friendship cards." Valentine's Day became popular in the United States through the efforts of Esther Howland. In 1847, she received a lacy valentine from England. She began making her own valentines to sell in her father's shop. Her cards became so popular that she started her own business and earned close to $100,000 a year. (See Do You Know What Day Tomorrow Is? by Lee B. Hopkins and Misha Arenstein.) ********************************************** "I Love You" in other languages(pronunciation in parenthesis)French: Je t'aime (jeh TE-mm) Spanish: Yo te amo (yoh te A-moh) Italian: Io ti amo (e-o tee A-moh) German: Ich liebe dich (eeksh Lee-beh deeksh) Hebrew: Ani ohev otach (ah-Nee o-HEV O-tach) Japanese: Watakushi-wa anato-wo aishimasu (WA-ta-SHE-was an-A-ta-o-ah-e-she-MA-sue) ********************************************** Resources Copyright 2001 by Rachel Keller |
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