What’s that thing called again? Ah… love! While it not may be what makes the world go round, it sure is what makes the ride all the more enjoyable. That is perhaps the main reason why billions of people throughout the centuries have seen it fit to dedicate an entire day to love, a day in which men and women in love compliment each other with grand gestures of romance. That day, as we have come to know it, is none other than Valentines Day.
For all its popularity, history fails to give us any assurance as to the origins of Valentines Day. Numerous tales have been told over the years in effort to explain the source of the Valentines Day, none of which fully guarantees accuracy or authenticity. Nonetheless, we do know that the story contains vestiges of the early Christian church in Ancient Rome and we do know that the association of romance and mid February goes back to an old pagan festival that was known as Luperchalia.
Lupercalia, which for the pagans began at the ides of February, February 15, was a fertility festival dedicated to the Roman god of agriculture, Faunus, as well as to the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. The festivities began with pagan priests sacrificing animals: a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. After the sacrifices, young boys and men would slice the goat’s hide into strips, dip them in sacrificial blood, and take to the streets to slap fields of crops and young women hoping that by doing so they would increase fertility for the forthcoming year. The Roman women welcomed being slapped with blood-dipped hides as it was believed that these strips would make them more fertile and appealing to men.
According to one legend, at sunset, just as night colored the skies black, young women, with the blood stains from the earlier slapping, would place their names in a big urn. Men bachelors would then line up and pick names out of the urn to become paired for the year to come with the woman whose name they picked. Such pairing often ended in marriage.
In the 5th century, possibly in attempt to Christianize the pagan festival as the lottery form of marriage was unchristian, Pope Gelasius declared February 14th as St. Valentine’s Day. As for the saint, St.Valentine, after which the day was named, records reveal that there are several stories of more than one Valentine to have been canonized (declared to be a saint) by the Christian church. Amongst the bouquet of Valentines of which stories tell, the most likely candidate to have been the St. Valentine behind the ‘Day of Love’ as we know it today is one defiant priest named Valentine who lived in 300 A.D under the rule of Emperor Claudius II.
Emperor Claudius II was by nature a bitter and ambitious ruler. During his reign, many ongoing battles on different fronts were being fought to defend and expand the lands of his empire. These many battles required vast armies of men to abandon their families for long periods of time which in turn left his army lacking morale and home-sick. The army’s performance was degenerating over time and it became very clear to the emperor that there was a serious problem which, if not solved, would hinder the realization of his aspirations and dreams. Determined to eradicate the problem, Claudius traced the route of the crisis down to love. The logic behind his reasoning: his men out on the fields were missing their wives and girls, and thus performed poorly on the battlefields as they were half-hearted and home sick. Determined, Claudius took it as his duty to stop love from sapping the will of his army and in attempt to do so, banned marriages amongst young couples altogether.
Father Valentine, a defiant priest in one of the churches at that time, thought the act of the Emperor unjust, inhuman, and above all, unchristian. He vowed to himself that he would defy the outrageous law in the name of religion, humanity, and love. To avoid being hung for a crime of defying royalty, Valentine would have to maintain secrecy. In undisclosed gatherings and meetings at the ends of night, father Valentine continued to marry young couples.
The acts of father Valentine gained him the adoration of the people and the reverence of those whom he married. Underground, amongst the people of Claudius’ Empire, word spread of the kind hearted father defying the emperor in the name of love and the number of couples that rushed to get married by Valentine continued to grow. It was only a matter of time, however, before the emperor found out about Valentine’s defiance and outright disrespect at the laws of the empire. The Emperor ordered the capture and imprisonment of the priest who was later condemned to death.
The story goes on to say that the young couples married by father Valentine secretly visited him in his cell as he awaited his execution. Out of fear, they avoided talking to him as soldiers were always present in the vicinity, guarding the prison cells. So instead, they waited for the right moments, when guards were not looking, to throw through the bars secret letters and notes that were sometimes adorned with small flowers; hoping that their gestures would in someway soothe the condemned priest and thank him for his kindness.
One version of the story claims that at some point during his imprisonment, Father Valentine fell in love with his jailor’s daughter. She happened to be a young and pretty woman that would visit the priest frequently in his cell and would keep him company. Before his death, the story goes on to say, Father Valentine had left the woman a note signing it: “With Love, Your Valentine.”
Since then, Valentine has grown arguably out of proportion, generating as much as 14 billion dollars a year for the United States alone. Roses, chocolates, jewelry and other gifts are bought and exchanged, presented by lovers to their loved ones. The celebrations extend across borders and the day is fêted all over the world, across the oceans, and in almost all cultures. It is a day that has come to be used as a vehicle for couples and people in love to truly go out of their way and out do themselves in the name of love. It is a very refreshing thought to realize that in all the different races and cultures, we humans are bound by a unique similarity that stems from the heart. Love is truly universal, there is no doubt about that; it has no face and knows no boundaries… The only sad thing may be that out of 365 days, we should dedicate more to love than just one.
