Valentine’s Day is on February 14th every year. Candy, flowers, and presents are given and received between loved ones across the United States and other countries on Valentine’s Day.
But who is this enigmatic saint and where did these customs originate? discover sex
What is the origin of Valentine’s Day? The origin of the festival and the life of its patron saint are unknown. We know that February has long been considered the month of love, and that the origins of St. Valentine’s Day can be traced back to both Christian and ancient Roman practices.
Valentine plan ❣️ pic.twitter.com/aXwpe9LuG5
— 𝐤𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐲𝐧 (@kaitlynscafe) February 3, 2023
But who is St. Valentine and how did he become associated with this traditional ritual?
At least three martyrs named Valentine or Valentinus are revered by the Catholic Church. According to one story, Valentine he was a priest who served in Rome in the 3rd century.
Emperor Claudius II forbade young men from marrying because he believed that single men would make better soldiers than men with wives and children.
Realizing the injustice of the law, Valentine defied Claudius and secretly married the young lovers. When Valentine’s deeds were discovered, Claudius ordered him executed.
Some argue that Saint Valentine, Bishop of Terni, is the origin of the actual holiday’s name. Outside Rome, Claudius II also had him executed by beheading.
According to other legends, Valentine may have been murdered for trying to help Christians escape from oppressive Roman prisons where they were frequently beaten and tortured.
One story says that an imprisoned Valentine sent the first “Valentine” message himself because he fell in love with a girl who may have been the prison’s daughter and visited him while incarcerated.
She allegedly received a letter from him before he died, signed “From Your Valentine”, a phrase still in use today.
The legends surrounding Valentine are ambiguous, but they all underscore his appeal as a sympathetic, brave, and most importantly romantic figure.
Valentine was ranked among the most favored saints in England and France by the Middle Ages, probably as a result of this reputation.
Valentine’s Day Origins: Pagan Festival of February
Some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in mid-February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s passage or burial, which is believed to have occurred around 27 AD, while the Christian Church chose to celebrate Saint Valentine’s Day. Some argue that it may have been in mid-February to “Christianize” the pagan holiday of Lupercalia.
Lupercalia, a fertility festival honoring Romulus and Remus and Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, was celebrated on February 15th.
To kick off the event, members of the Ruperchi, a religious order of Roman priests, gathered in a sacred cave where it was said that her wolf, or Rupa, cared for the infants of the city’s founders, Romulus and Remus. It was broken.
Priests offered dogs for purification and goats for fertility. The goat skins were then shredded and soaked in sacrificial blood, and they proceeded through the streets, tapping both the women and the farmlands. Roman women were not afraid to touch their skin.
According to legend, every young woman in the city put her name in a large urn later in the day. Each bachelor in the city chooses a name and partners with a woman of his choice for the year.
Lovers & Friends…Valentine’s Day Party ❤️ Feb 12, 2023 pic.twitter.com/6ZzlJEQoSD
—Gershona Annor (@herapatra) February 6, 2023
Valentine’s Day Meaning: A Day of Romance and Love
Despite surviving the early growth of Christianity, Lupercalia was banned when Pope Gelasius declared February 14th to be Saint Valentine’s Day at the end of the 5th century. But it wasn’t until later that the day was definitely bound up with love.
The notion that Valentine’s Day should be a day of romance in mid-February was reinforced during the Middle Ages, as February 14th was widely believed to mark the beginning of the breeding season for birds in France and England. rice field.
English poet Geoffrey Chaucer first referred to St. Valentine’s Day as a celebration of love in his 1375 poem The Assembly of Fowl.
he wrote:
Valentine’s letters first appeared around 1400, but Valentine’s greetings have been popular since the Middle Ages.
The oldest recorded valentine that still exists today is a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orléans in 1415 to his wife who was imprisoned in the Tower of London after her defeat at the Battle of Agincourt.
(This greeting is now in the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) A few years later, Henry V is thought to have commissioned the writer John Lydgate to write a Valentine’s letter to Catherine of Valois. increase.
What is Cupid?
On Valentine’s Day cards, Cupid is often depicted as a naked cherub shooting love arrows at unwary couples. But Eros, the Greek god of love, is where the Roman god Cupid first appeared.
He was reportedly born to Nyx and Erebus, Aphrodite, Ares, Iris, Zephyrus, and even Aphrodite and Zeus (he would have been both his father and grandfather).
Ancient Greek poets described Eros as a gorgeous immortal figure who manipulates people’s emotions. He used gold arrows to arouse feelings of love and lead arrows to arouse feelings of disgust. He wasn’t depicted as a cocky, chubby boy on Valentine’s Day cards until the Hellenistic period.
My valentine came early 😊❤️ pic.twitter.com/bywI9ybKnI
— Mwami Laban (@Johnlaban256) February 7, 2023
Valentine’s Day greetings and presents
Besides the United States, Valentine’s Day is also celebrated in Kenya, Canada, Mexico, England, France and Australia.
Around the 17th century, Valentine’s Day became widely known in England.
Friends and lovers of all social groups frequently exchanged small keepsakes and handwritten notes of affection by the mid-18th century, and by 1900, printed cards were being written as a result of advances in printing technology. It began to replace the old letter. At a time when direct communication of one’s feelings was frowned upon, ready-made cards provided an easy means to do so.
When we love, we always strive to be better than ourselves.
When we strive to be better than ourselves, everything around us gets better too. pic.twitter.com/Nou9lf6U19— Nairobi Fashion Hub (@FashionNairobi) February 7, 2023
As postage rates have dropped, mailing Valentine’s Day greetings has become more popular.
In the early 1700s, Americans probably started sharing homemade valentines. Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America in the 1840s. She Howland called “Valentine’s Mother” and she created intricate works of art using actual lace, ribbons, “scrap” or vivid imagery.
Valentine’s Day is now the second most card-sending occasion of the year, with the Greeting Card Association estimating that 145 million cards are sent each year (Christmas, with even more). available).
Content provided: history & NFH
