Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is the annual holiday honoring
lovers. It is celebrated on February 14 by the custom of sending greeting cards
or gifts to express affection. The cards, known as valentines, are often
designed with hearts to symbolize love. Every February, across the country,
candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of
St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint and why do we celebrate this
holiday? The history of Valentine’s Day — and its patron saint — is shrouded in
mystery.
The history of Valentine’s Day is obscure, and
further clouded by various fanciful legends. St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it
today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. Its
roots are obscured by mystery and there are varying opinions about it. Its
origins have become themes of many legends.
According to legend, the holiday has its roots
in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalis/Lupercalia, a fertility celebration
commemorated annually on February 15. As Christianity came to dominance in
Europe, pagan holidays such as Lupercalia were frequently renamed for early
Christian martyrs. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius recast this pagan festival as a
Christian feast day circa 496, declaring February 14 to be the feast day of the
Roman martyr Saint Valentine, who lived in the 3rd century.
Which St. Valentine this early pope intended to
honor remains a mystery. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there were at
least three early Christian saints by that name. One was a priest in Rome,
another a bishop in Terni, and of a third St. Valentine almost nothing is known
except that he met his end in Africa. Rather astonishingly, all three
Valentines were said to have been martyred on Feb. 14.
Most scholars believe that the St. Valentine of
the holiday was a priest who attracted the disfavor of Roman emperor Claudius
II around 270. The history of St. Valentine’s Day has two legends attached to
it – the Protestant and the Catholic legend. According to both legends,
Valentine was a bishop who held secret marriage ceremonies of soldiers in
opposition to Claudius II who had prohibited marriage for young men and was
executed by the latter. Although many scholars agree that Lupercalia was moved
from Feb. 15th to the 14th and was Christianized by associating it with this
St. Valentine character, it is still unclear just who the historical St.
Valentine was. One school of thought believes that he was a Roman martyred for
refusing to give up his Christian faith. According to church tradition St.
Valentine was a priest/bishop of Rome in about the year 270 A.D.
At that time the Roman Emperor Claudius-II who
had issued an edict forbidding marriage. This was around when the heyday of
Roman empire had almost come to an end. Lack of quality administrators led to
frequent civil strife. Learning declined, taxation increased, and trade slumped
to a low, precarious level. And the Gauls, Slavs, Huns, Turks and Mongolians
from Northern Europe and Asian increased their pressure on the empire’s
boundaries. The empire was grown too large to be shielded from external
aggression and internal chaos with existing forces. Thus more of capable men
were required to be recruited as soldiers and officers. When Claudius became
the emperor, he felt that married men were more emotionally attached to their
families, and thus, will not make good soldiers. He believed it made the men
weak. So to assure quality soldiers, he banned marriage.
Valentine, realized the injustice of the
decree. Seeing the trauma of young lovers, he met them in a secret place, and
joined them in the sacrament of matrimony. He defied Claudius and continued to
perform marriages for young lovers in secret. But Claudius soon learned of this
"friend of lovers," and had him arrested.
While Valentine was in prison awaiting his fate,
he came in contact with his jailor, Asterius. The jailor had a blind daughter.
Asterius requested him to heal his daughter. The Catholic legend has it that
through the vehicle of his strong faith he miraculously restored the sight of
Asterius’ daughter, a phenomenon refuted by the Protestant version which agrees
otherwise with the Catholic one. Just before his execution, he asked for a pen
and paper from his jailor, and signed a farewell message to her "From Your
Valentine," a phrase that lived ever after. Another legend has it that
Valentine, imprisoned by Claudius, fell in love with the daughter of his
jailer. However, this legend is not given much importance by historians.
Probably the most plausible story surrounding St. Valentine is one not focused
on Eros (passionate love) but on agape (Christian love): he was martyred for
refusing to renounce his religion.
The emperor, impressed with the young priest’s
dignity and conviction, attempted to convert him to the Roman gods, to save him
from certain execution. Valentine refused to recognize Roman Gods and even
attempted to convert the emperor, knowing the consequences fully. What happened
was what was to happen. All attempts to convert the emperor failed.
On February 14, 270 AD, Valentine was executed.
Valentine thus become a Patron Saint, and spiritual overseer of an annual
festival. The festival involved young Romans offering women they admired, and
wished to court, handwritten greetings of affection on February 14. The
greeting cards acquired St.Valentine’s name.
It was not until the 14th century that this
Christian feast day became definitively associated with love. According to UCLA
medieval scholar Henry Ansgar Kelly, author of Chaucer and the Cult of Saint
Valentine, it was Chaucer who first linked St. Valentine’s Day with romance.
In 1381, Chaucer composed a poem in honor of
the engagement between England’s Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. As was the
poetic tradition, Chaucer associated the occasion with a feast day. In medieval
France and England it was believed that birds mated on February 14, and the
image of birds as the symbol of lovers began to appear in poems dedicated to
the day. In Chaucer’s "The Parliament of Fowls," the royal
engagement, the mating season of birds, and St. Valentine’s Day are linked:
"For this was on St. Valentine’s Day, When
every fowl cometh there to choose his mate."
By the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the
most popular saints in England and France. Despite attempts by the Christian
church to sanctify the holiday, the association of Valentine’s Day with romance
and courtship continued through the Middle Ages. Over the centuries, the
holiday evolved, and by the 18th century, gift-giving and exchanging hand-made
cards on Valentine’s Day had become common in England. Hand-made valentine
cards made of lace, ribbons, and featuring cupids and hearts eventually spread
to the American colonies. The first commercial Valentine’s Day greeting cards
produced in the U.S. were created in the 1840s by Esther A. Howlanda Mount
Holyoke, a graduate and native of Worcester, Mass. Howland, known as the Mother
of the Valentine, made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful
pictures known as "scrap". The tradition of Valentine’s cards did not
become widespread in the United States, however, until Howland began producing
them in large scale. Today, of course, the holiday has become a booming
commercial success. According to the Greeting Card Association, 25% of all
cards sent each year are valentines.The Valentine’s Day card spread with
Christianity, and is now celebrated all over the world. One of the earliest
card was sent in 1415 AD by Charles, duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was
a prisoner in the Tower of London. The card is now preserved in the British
Museum.
Whoever Valentine was, we know he was an actual
person because archaeologists have recently unearthed a Roman catacomb and an
ancient church dedicated to a Saint Valentine.
History Of Valentine’s day By :
http://www.theholidayspot.com
