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Thursday

27-03-2025 Vol 19

What is the origin of Valentine’s Day? From dark day to day with love

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While the Cupids arrow may turn a bit, it bleached in comparison with Darker, more brutal traditions on Valentine’s Day – Where the holidays were once marked by animal sacrifices and gloomy rituals.

That’s right – Love Day actually has a dark story that wasn’t all chocolates and roses. In fact, romance had very little to do with the holidays.

What is the origin of Valentine’s Day?

Dating back to the old rum comes the holidays with the party of Lupercalia, celebrated from 13 to 15 February. According to NPRLupercalia was a sacrificial and festival in honor of Lupa, the wolf who used to and protected Romulus and Remus. The event was also intended to reassure Lupercus, the Roman fertility god, according to History.com.

During the original festival, men sacrificed a goat and a dog and then ran around – often naked or almost naked – striking women with the hides of the fresh killed animals. Women got up to be hit and thought it would increase their fertility. Afterwards, the women’s names were placed in a jar and men would draw a name to determine their partner for the rest of the festival.

When did Valentine’s Day a day of love?

In an attempt to exhibit pagan rituals, Pope Gelasius combined the festival with St. Valentine’s Day of the Fifth Century, according to History Channel. It was not necessarily associated with romantic love until the 14th and 15th centuries, probably influenced by medieval poets such as Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare connecting the day to polite love, according to the Delaware News Journal. In the Middle Ages, lovers and friends began to exchange Valentine’s Day Card, according to NPR.

It was about 1913 that Valentine’s Day literally became a Hallmark holiday. The card manufacturer began mass producing Valentines, and from that time romance and commercialism went into exaggeration.

Why is it called Valentine’s Day? Who is Saint Valentine?

The holiday is named after Saint Valentine, a martyr from early Christianity. However, there were several saints named Valentine, making it difficult to decide which one is the true namesake. Most legends point to either Saint Valentine from Rome or Saint Valentine from Terni.

A legend tells about Saint Valentine, a Roman priest who secretly performed weddings to tread Emperor Claudius II’s ban on marriage for young men. To this he was arrested and executed. Another story focuses on Saint Valentine from Terni, a bishop who was also executed to oppose the emperor’s orders.

Meanwhile, one of the most sustained legends of an imprisoned Saint Valentine sending a letter to a young girl signed “From Your Valentine”, which further contributes to the romantic tradition of the holidays.

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