Since I no longer have the grand pleasure of buying CVS out of valentines and candy to give my classmates...I decided this year to do some backround research on where the commercial Valentine's Day makes its birth. (Thank you Will Turner...) I also had work until 9pm...
Also, this blog post is about learning how Gnomes can link to things! Feel free to visit links I put in this post...but do be warned...it's me.
Okay, so on further conversation with my father I learned that Valentine's Day is indeed a Christian holiday. Februrary has long been a month of romance apparently, including the Roman rites, Victorian English traditions, and of course the modern Valentine's Day. So, who the hell was Saint Valentine and how did he become associated with ancient Roman rites? The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred, so let's see who possesses the proper credentials. I picked the priest serving in Rome during the thrid century, and I found three possible stories that make him a sympathetic and loveable Valentine.
One legend contends that Valentine was a priest under the Roman Emperor Claudius II. Claudius decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families. All the single soldiers, all the single soldiers, all the single soldiers, put your hands up! The emperor outlawed marriage for younger men--the obvious pick for efficient soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the new decree, flipped Claudius off and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered Valentine be put to death.
Another story suggests that Valentine may have been killed for helping Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were beaten and tortured...ah early Christianity...
According to the other legend I found, Valentine actually sent the first "valentine" greeting card himself. He was imprisoned, and while there it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl--who may or may not have been the jailor's daughter (oops). She visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed "From your Valentine." This expression is still a great marketing success.
As I mentioned before, regardless of the truthfulness of the tales, Valentine presents a romantic picture. By the Middle Ages, Valentine's Day was very popular in England and France (also because by then Christianity had hit it pretty big, and there wasn't a lot of fun things to do). Why Februrary 14th then? Pope Gelasius declared February 14th St. Valentine's Day around 498 A.D. There had been a Roman festival (Lupercalia) before then...but it was more a springtime, goat-sacrificing, young woman lottery system for romantic pairings...so it was deemed un-Christian and outlawed. Later, in the Middle Ages, it was believed in France and England that February 14th was the beginning of birds' mating season, which apparently led to the idea that the middle of February--Valentine's Day--should be a day for romance.
On a final history note (has this been interesting at all?) the oldest valentine still in existence today is a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. The greeting, which was written in 1415, is part of the manuscript collection at the British Library in London, England (been there!!!). Only a few years after that, allegedly King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois. I personally have a few Harry Potter valentines lying about somewhere...
So...curiosity killed the cat, but I'm not dead yet, so apparently...I'm not a cat? I hope that this was enjoyable or at least remotely revealing for some of my readers, and I look forward to my next post (most likely with less links...although I can't promise anything, this is super fun).
Happy, happy week to all, and I shall write again soon!
Cheers,
