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History of Valentines Day

Saint Valentine's Day or Valentine's Day is on February 14th.

It is a traditional day on which lovers express their love for one another sending Valentine's cards
flowers and chocolate.  The day is named after two men, both Christian martyrs named Valentine.
  The day became associated with romantic love in the High Middle Ages when the tradition
 of courtly love flourished. Whilst Valentines Day is celebrated by Western and
Western-influenced culture, other related days are seen across the world. 
The Night of Stevens is a Chinese holiday that also related to love. 
White Day, a similar holiday, is celebrated in Japan and Korea one month after Valentine's Day.

The day is closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of 'valentines.'
Modern Valentine symbols include the red rose, the shape of a heart and the winged figure of cupid.
 Since the 19th century hand written notes have largely given way to mass produced
greetings cards with an estimated one billion cards being sent each year!

February Fertility Festivals

On the ancient Athens calendar, the period between mid-January and mid-February
was the month of Gamelion dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera. 
In ancient Rome February 15th was 'Lupercalia'.  This word comes from lupus or wolf
and is associated with the wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus the founders of Rome. 
Priests would sacrifice a wolf and spread its blood through the streets of the city as
 a symbol of fertility.  The more general Festival of Juno Februa was celebrated
 on February 13-14th.  Pope Galasius (years 492-496) abolished Lupercalia.  Candlemas was
promoted as its replacement, but this feast was already celebrated in Jerusalem by AD 381.
The pope declared in AD496 that the feast of St Valentine would be on February 14th.

Associations with Love

The first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic lovers was in a poem
 by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1382.  This poem celebrated the first anniversary of the
 engagement of King Richard II to Anne of Bohemia. They were both 14 years old!

In the liturgical calendar, May 2 is the saint's day for Valentine of Genoa.
 This St. Valentine was an early bishop of Genoa who died around AD 307.

Medieval and Modern Times

Using the language of the law courts for the rituals of courtly love,
a 'High Court of Love' was established in Paris on Valentines Day in 1400. 
The court dealt with love contracts, betrayals and violence against women.
 Judges were selected by women on the basis of poetry reading!

The earliest surviving valentine dates from 1415. 
It is a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife.
 At the time the Duke was being held in the Tower of London!

It is probable that many legends about St. Valentines originated about this era.
Among these legends were:

On the evening before Valentine was to be martyred for being a Christian,
 he passed a love note to his jailers daughter that read, 'From your Valentine'.

During a ban on marriages of Roman soldiers by the Emperor Claudius II,
St. Valentine helped arrange marriages.

In relatively more modern times, in 1836, relics of St Valentine of Rome were donated
 by Pope Gregory XVI to the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland. 
In the 1960's the church was renovated and the relics restored to prominence.

In 1969, as part of a larger effort to pare down the number of saint days of purely
legendary origin, the church removed St Valentine's Day as an official holiday from its calendar.
 However, within the Church the day is still marked by some local communities
 and by over 1 million Traditionalist Catholics throughout the world.

So when you think of your loved one and want to sent Valentine Roses -
 just remember this tradition has lasted for centuries.

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