The History Of Valentine's Day You Need To Know

Just like love the story of history of Valentine's day is a little complicated. Like many other parts of our modern culture at least some of the tradition can be traced back to Italy.

There aren't a lot of hard facts around how the tradition developed, before Geoffrey Chaucer, so we decided to share with you the most widely accepted explanation of Saint Valentine and the holiday of love.

Saint Valentine of Rome was a third century Roman saint. There were two different men attributed to the name of Saint Valentine but it has been agreed that St. Valentine was martyred and then buried on the Via Flaminia to the north of Rome. (You can now see his skull in the Basillica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome.)

The legends associated with Saint Valentine vary. One legend is that Saint Valentine is affiliated with love because when Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Saint Valentine decided this was unfair and secretly married young couples in order to save the men from military service.

Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first “valentine” greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl. Other stories say that when Saint Valentine was on house arrest a judge brought his daughter to Saint Valentine to cure her blindness. When Saint Valentine was able to cure her the Judge converted to Christianity. Later in his life he was imprisoned again and was said to leave a note for the Judge's daughter before his execution signed, "From Your Valentine".

February 14th is widely believed to be the day of Saint Valentine's execution and therefore Valentine's day is celebrated on that day, in honor of the Saint.

Another thought is that Valentine's day was created as a diversion from the pagan holiday of Lupercalia. Lupercalia was celebrated February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. Members would gather at the sacred cave where it was believed the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were cared for by a lupa (she-wolf). The Pagan priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then remove their hides, dip them in the sacrificial blood and walk the streets gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. The women were happy to be slapped with the hides in hope for improvement to their fertility. In the evening all the young women in the city would place their names in a big vessel. The bachelors would choose a name and then be matched with that woman for a year. Many of these matches would end in marriage.

At the end of the end of the fifth century Pope Gelasius outlawed the "un-christian" Lupercalia and instead deemed February 14th a day to celebrate the Saint Valentine.

During the Middle Ages it is believed that in France and England birds began their mating season on February 14th. This elevated the idea of Valentine's day being a day about love. Then in 1375 Geoffrey Chaucer wrote in "Parliament of Fowls"- “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.”

The Roman God Cupid has long been associated with Valentine's day. He is considered to be the Greek God, Eros, God of Love. Cupid became a part of Valentine's day around the same time Chaucer wrote about Saint Valentine's day. Since then he has become a symbol of love in cultures around the world.

While the legends and stories vary around Valentine's Day by the 1800's it was a day celebrating love, both requited and unrequited, with gifts and cards and sentimental greetings. Valentine's Day is celebrated in many countries around the world. In Italy Valentine's day is celebrated romantic dinners, thoughtful gifts and gestures of love.

If you are looking for beautiful unique Valentine's Day gifts check out our Unique Valentine's Day Gift Ideas for Him and Her.

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