ROCKINGHAM - From ancient Roman rituals to the customs of Victorian England and into 21st century America, the occasion that we call “Valentine’s Day” has evolved and morphed from mysterious origins.
Today in America, the traditional exchange of candy, flowers, gifts and approximately 150 million cards (and over 1 billion worldwide, making Valentine’s Day 2nd only to the Christmas season as the most “card giving” occasion, just ahead of Mothers’ Day) on February 14th symbolizes the ubiquitous epitome of our society’s fascination with love and romance.
Succinctly stated, there are at least three different versions of the “history” of Saint Valentine’s Day. The fact that the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different patron saints by the name of “Valentine” and/or “Valentinus” who were all martyred only serves to complicate the situation. Regardless, history has led to an integration of vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition into the “explanations” as to why we recognize St. Valentine’s Day as we do.
The most popular rendition is one in which Valentine, a Roman priest during the third century, was put to death for defying the decree of Emperor Claudius II that outlawed marriage. It was Claudius’ opinion that, with no wives or marital families to distract their thoughts while away at war, single men tended to be superior soldiers. Valentine believed this to constitute a violation of the will of God; he consequently continued to conduct marital ceremonies until his execution in 270 A.D. Thus, Valentine became the Christian symbol of true love and devotion to the concept of a marital (and, in turn, romantic) bond.
An alternative but perfectly congruent legend contends that Valentine was a primary catalyst in assisting Christians to escape from harsh Roman prisons where they were beaten and tortured. Once he himself was imprisoned, Valentine fell in love with his jailer’s daughter (who brought food to the inmates) and gave her a card expressing his affection. That card supposedly read “From your Valentine” and thus constituted the original “valentine.”
Of course, these stories are not necessarily mutually exclusive and could have all been true. It is quite plausible that each scenario occurred simultaneously with the same Valentine; the priest could have been initially arrested for suspicion of conducting marriages in defiance of the emperor’s order as well as for aiding Christians to escape from jail and, while incarcerated for these offenses, gave his jailer’s daughter the original “valentine” just before his execution on February 14th of 270 A.D.
An alternative thought is that Valentine’s Day was designed by Christians to replace the pagan ritual of Lupercalia. Celebrated in mid-February, Lupercalia was a “love and fertility” feast day dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as the mythical founders of Rome itself (i.e., its namesake Romulus and his twin brother Remus). The ritualistic celebration would commence with members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, gathering at the sacred cave where Romulus and Remus were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or “lupa.” A goat would be sacrificed for fertility and its hide cut into strips which were subsequently dipped into the sacrificial blood. Taking to the streets with these blood-soaked goat hide strips, the men would rub them on the women as a means of ostensibly enhancing their chances of conceiving during the coming year. Afterwards, the women who were touched by the sacred goat hides would place their names in an urn at the middle of town. Local bachelors would select the cards, announcing with whom they would be paired for the year with the hope of procreating. Of course, these temporary matches often led to official marriages, thus precipitating the idea of the symbolic meaning of a “valentine card” that we hold today.
The valentine “card” has a relatively short history. Dating only to the 1400’s in Europe, what we now call a “valentine” did not appear in America until the 1700’s. While verbal greetings were exchanged in commemoration of Valentine’s Day since its inception in the 3rd century, most common people were totally illiterate and thus unable to pen any notes of love and affection. The oldest known valentine still in existence was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife, while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
Americans began exchanging handmade valentines in the early 1700’s, but it was not until the 1840’s that the first mass-produced cards made their debut. Esther A Howland, “Mother of the Valentine,” began making and selling creations of lace, ribbons and colorful pictures (known as “scrap” in that era).
