There’s love in the air. Valentine’s Day is just one day away and everyone’s excited to surprise their sweetheart.This year, we will send each other over 141 million Valentine’s Day cards (History.com)! But do you ever wonder how this day deticated to love came to be?
According to History.com, the exact reason for the celebration of Valentine’s Day is not known. They speculate, however, that its roots could have started within two different stories.
In third century Rome there lived a priest named Valentine. The current emporer, Claudius II believed that single men were better soldiers than those who were married and thus banned marriage for young men. Valentine viewed this new law as injust and continued to perform marriage ceremonies for young men regardless. For his defiance, Claudius ordered Valentine to death.
Another story suggests that Valentine was imprisoned to death for helping other Christians escape from harsh Roman jails. During his imprisonment, Valentine fell in love with the prison keeper’s daughter, who often visited him. Before he died, Valentine apparently wrote her a note and signed it, “From your Valentine.”
Valentine’s Day could be celebrated in memory of Valentine’s death or, History.com also contends that the holiday could exist due to the Church’s efforts to “Christianize” the pagan festival of Lupercalia (February 15) with a St. Valentine’s feast. Lupercalia was then “outlawed” by Pope Gelasius during the fifth century. He declared February 14th to be Valentine’s Day.
Soon after, many in France and England believed that this should be a time of love because this was the time birds began their mating season. During the middle ages, Valentine’s greetings grew popular around Valentine’s Day and the first handwritten Valentine appeared in 1415. Charles, Duke of Orleans, wrote this poem to his wife who was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
The celebration of Valentine’s Day gained more popularity in the 17th century and by the 18th century, people in Great Britain began giving tokens of love and affection to their lovers, friends, and family. Americans reportedly began sending Valentines in the 1700s. By the 1840s, Valentines gained explosive momentum as Esther A. Howland began to mass produce and sell elaborate Valentines (History.com).