THE HISTORY OF VALENTINES DAY
the history of Valentine's Day--and the story of
its patron saint--is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has
long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine's
Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and
ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he
become associated with this ancient rite?
The Catholic Church
recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or
Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that
Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When
Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than
those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men.
Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and
continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When
Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to
death.
Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been
killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons,
where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an
imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first "valentine" greeting
himself after he fell in love with a young girl--possibly his jailor's
daughter--who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it
is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed "From your Valentine," an
expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the
Valentine legends is murky, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a
sympathetic, heroic and--most importantly--romantic figure. By the
Middle Ages, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine would become
one of the most popular saints in England and France.
Origins of Valentine's Day: A Pagan Festival in February
While some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of
February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or
burial--which probably occurred around A.D. 270--others claim that the
Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine's feast day in
the middle of February in an effort to "Christianize" the pagan
celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or
February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus,
the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus
and Remus.
To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an
order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants
Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been
cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for
fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the
goat's hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to
the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat
hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the
hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming
year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the
city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would
each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman.
These matches often ended in marriage.
Valentine's Day: A Day of Romance
Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity and but was
outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”--at the end of the 5th century,
when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day. It was not
until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated
with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France
and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds' mating season,
which added to the idea that the middle of Valentine's Day should be a
day for romance.
Valentine greetings were popular as far back
as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine's didn't begin to appear
until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today
was a poem written in 1415 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 greeting is now part of the manuscript
collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years
later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John
Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.
Typical Valentine's Day Greetings
In addition to the United States, Valentine's Day is celebrated in
Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. In Great
Britain, Valentine's Day began to be popularly celebrated around the
17th century. By the middle of the 18th, it was common for friends and
lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or
handwritten notes, and by 1900 printed cards began to replace written
letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards
were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when
direct expression of one's feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage
rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending
Valentine's Day greetings.
Americans probably began exchanging
hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland
began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland,
known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with
real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap." Today,
according to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 1 billion
Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the
second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6
billion cards are sent for Christmas.) Women purchase approximately 85
percent of all
valentines.....................................................@MICHELISWORLD.BLOGSPOT.COM
the history of Valentine's Day--and the story of its patron saint--is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this ancient rite?
The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.
Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first "valentine" greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl--possibly his jailor's daughter--who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed "From your Valentine," an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and--most importantly--romantic figure. By the Middle Ages, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine would become one of the most popular saints in England and France.
Origins of Valentine's Day: A Pagan Festival in February
While some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial--which probably occurred around A.D. 270--others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to "Christianize" the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.
To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat's hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.
Valentine's Day: A Day of Romance
Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity and but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”--at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds' mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of Valentine's Day should be a day for romance.
Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine's didn't begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 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 greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.
Typical Valentine's Day Greetings
In addition to the United States, Valentine's Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. In Great Britain, Valentine's Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and by 1900 printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one's feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine's Day greetings.
Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap." Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.) Women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.....................................................@MICHELISWORLD.BLOGSPOT.COM
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