THE ORIGINS OF...
VALENTINE'S DAY

St. Valentine’s Day has its roots deep in time, but its origins are shrouded in a bit of mystery. There were no fewer than three St. Valentines, and very little fact and much legend surrounds each. The most entertaining version of history has it that Valentine was a priest in 3rd century Rome, when the emperor Claudius II was engaged in a series of wars. Claudius was unsuccessful at recruiting soldiers to fight his wars, and he found out that many men refused to serve because they were married and had families to attend to. In order to circumvent this problem, Claudius outlawed marriage and other engagements. Valentine, who thought this a grave injustice, decided to conduct weddings in secret. As a consequence, he was thrown in a jail cell and asked to repent. It is here that legend has Valentine save his jailer’s daughter from illness (or blindness). The two were allegedly quite close, and Valentine is said to have written the first Valentine note to her, which was inscribed “from your Valentine.”

There is little to no factual evidence for these events, aside from the fact that Valentine became a martyr when Claudius ordered his head struck off. The day of his execution was supposedly February 14, and in 496, Pope Gelasius I declared it a feast day in Valentine’s honor. The feast was celebrated by the Roman Catholic church until 1969.

Valentine’s day falls on February 14 for another reason, and this of course is due to the pagans. In ancient times, there was a festival by the name of Lupercalia, which was celebrated for many years by the Romans. The festival fell on February 15, and was in honor of the Roman god Faunus (the Greek god Pan, who watched over shepherds and their flocks). The Romans honored this god because it was believed he watched over the shepherds and their flocks, and prevented them from being ravaged by roaming wolves. The festival also celebrated the birth of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, and was held near the cave of Lupercal. It is here that the two brothers were allegedly nursed for a time by a female wolf (note the Latin word for wolf is lupus).*
               Priests would gather near the cave and sacrifice a goat (for fertility) and a dog (for purification); young boys would then slice the goat hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood, and run about slapping both women and crops with them. The women were very receptive to this practice, since it was believed it would make them more fertile in the coming year.
               Though there is little evidence to support this, it is also believed the Roman women would write their names on bits of paper and drop them into an urn, and the city’s bachelors would draw them out. The two would become paired for the next year, and were often married. It is believed the church converted this pagan practice into the modern one of giving and receiving cards and other gifts. It is also very plausible that the church chose to honor Saint Valentine on a day near this festival, so as to subvert it and eventually eliminate it entirely.