One of the biggest commercial holidays of the year is Valentine’s day. The day of love is celebrated by people everywhere—according to goodhousekeeping, around six million couples get engaged on this widely loved holiday. Valentine’s Day’s roots go back far, although we are unsure of the true beginnings, we know some historical significance that has led the holiday to where it is now.
Most people know Valentine’s Day as being connected to St. Valentine. And while this is true, it is believed that the holiday of love has its roots in a pagan festival surrounding fertility. St. Valentine is more so a legend, even believed to have been multiple people who have been combined to inspire the holiday. According to HISTORY, the early Christian church in Rome was responsible for the popularization of Valentine’s Day. One of the Roman priests, St. Valentine, went against emperor Claudius the Second’s rule which banned soldiers from getting married. The Roman military was full of men who wanted to get married and have families, but the Roman emperor just wouldn’t allow it. St. Valentine was jailed and sentenced to death for marrying couples in secret. While imprisoned, he fell in love with his jailer’s daughter, and on February 14th, the day of his execution, he gave her a note that said, from your valentine.
While some countries celebrate Valentine’s Day in their own way, there is criticism surrounding the holiday as being neo-colonialist and imperialist because of its western influence on the east.
Some sources argue that it wasn’t until the fourteenth century that the holiday began being associated with love, because of one of Chaucer’s famous poems, “Parliament of Fowls”, where he discusses birds when they select mates. The poem was to commemorate the engagement of young King Richard II, and quickly gained popularity. According to Smithsonian Magazine, Shakespeare is also partially responsible for making the holiday famous. In one of his best known plays, Hamlet, Ophelia spoke of him as her Valentine.
Some other fun facts about Valentine’s Day are that the rhyme that begins “Roses are red, violets are blue…” stems from Edmund Spencer’s “The Faerie Queen” (1590) where he tells the story of a woman bathing with red roses and blue violets. HISTORY has also shared that a vinegar valentine, also known sometimes as a penny dreadful, was a type of card popular in the Victorian era, which was meant to be anonymous and insulting towards an individual.
In total, Americans spend billions of dollars for Valentine’s Day. Whether it be a favorite candy bar, movie, engagement ring, or one of those giant teddy bears, Valentine’s Day is a successful consumer holiday. It was in 1868 when Cadbury initially released a heart shaped box of chocolates, and it was, according to NPR, in 1913 when Hallmark began making Valentine’s Day cards. Cupid is considered the god of love and desire to the Greeks, but the Romans used him as inspiration for the idea of cherubs, which is popularly seen on Valentine’s Day cards. Next time you’re buying that larger-than-life teddy bear or browsing for the perfect card at Target, recognize you’re taking part in a 1700-year-old tradition!