Valentine’s Day: The True Origins

Before Valentine’s Day was modernized, have you ever wondered how it started? Way back before the stuffed toys, expensive bouquets and the mandatory dates, there actually is a story behind this well-prepared festivity... But not for the reasons you think.

One version of this story dates back when Valentine’s day was a pagan holiday called Lupercalia. It was said that Lupercalia was already celebrated for centuries in the middle of February and that the celebration was centered on fertility (this is so giving me ‘Midsommar’ vibes lol). During that celebration, men would strip naked and sacrifice a goat and a dog. Young boys would then take strips of hide from the sacrificed animals and use it to whip young women. In their belief, it was known to promote fertility. Lupercalia was very popular and it was one of the few pagan holidays still celebrated 150 years after Christianity was legalized in the Roman Empire. When Pope Gelasius came to power in the late fifth century, he put an end to Lupercalia.

Yikes. Not your usual romantic story huh? But let’s explore another take on V-day.

Another popular version of the origin of V-day was because of a priest named Valentine from Rome in the third century AD. According to history, Emperor Claudius II had banned marriage because he thought married men were bad soldiers. Valentine felt this was unfair, so he broke the rules and arranged marriages in secret. When Claudius found out, Valentine was thrown in jail and sentenced to death. There, he fell in love with the jailer's daughter and when he was taken to be killed on 14 February he sent her a love letter signed "from your Valentine".

This version is the most (sorta) romantic among all of the versions that I’ve read. And yes, there are many of them. Not just these two. But out of all them, these two are the only ones that relate to the Valentine’s Day we all know and celebrate today.

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As years pass, the New World has found a way to modernize and monetize on the holiday making it the day we all love (or loathe LOL) today.

There’s one thing I’ve learned from all those articles about V-day that I’ve read... is that no one really knows the exact origin of it. And maybe that’s because there’s never been a reason to celebrate love for just one day. Celebrate love every day. Be with the one you love every day. Love yourself every day. Because if there’s one thing that this pandemic has taught us is that we should seize every moment we have with everyone that we love.

But hey, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, it’ll be bad to reject V-day gifts right? P.S. Thank you. 😂😅😉

Happy Valentine’s Day,

- Anne D. 💋

Sources:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/holidays/reference/saint-st-valentines-day/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/amp/16945378 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Valentines-Day http://ndsuspectrum.com/the-dark-history-behind-valentines-day/