Feb. 14, 2002 Through the hustles and bustles of buying roses, chocolates and corny cards, few people stop to realize where Valentine's Day originated and why every Feb. 14 they can indulge in a little extra love.
The story of Valentine's Day begins in Rome in the fourth century B.C. Records show that the Roman citizens celebrated the feast of Lupercal Feb. 15. During this festival, the names of teen-age women were placed in a box, and the young men would then draw a name from the box. Whichever maiden the young man drew would be his partner for a period of one year until the next drawing. Some of the partnerships would eventually lead to marriage.
This festival was outlawed centuries later when Rome became the center of the early Christian church.
Pope Galasius issued a decree in A.D. 496 which forbade celebrations of the Lupercalian festival. The pope did not do away with the celebration outright, though.
The drawing was still held, except now, the citizens pulled out the name of a saint instead of a woman. The young men were expected to emulate the life of their chosen saint for the rest of the year.
The church still needed some martyr or saint to dedicate the festival to, so they found an ideal candidate who had been executed by the emperor Claudius some 200 years earlier to become Saint Valentine.
Claudius was waging war on several fronts and was badly in need of soldiers. He felt that single men would make the best fighters because married men might be less willing to leave their homes and families. And so, he outlawed marriage.
Bishop Valentine did not like this decision at all. He let it be known that he would perform marriage services secretly. When he was discovered and brought before Claudius, he tried to convert the emperor. This did not move Claudius at all, and he sentenced Valentine to death.
While waiting for execution, Valentine fell in love with the blind daughter of his jailer. This jailer could do nothing to avert the bishop's fate. The day before he died, Valentine asked for pen and paper to write a farewell to his beloved.
He was dead before she opened it. When she did, the note said "From Your Valentine," and her blindness was cured.
Valentine was clubbed, stoned and beheaded. He died Feb. 14, AD 269. Two centuries later, Galasius made Valentine the Patron Saint of Lovers and the overseer of his newly invented festival.
Valentine's Day gets its name from Saint Valentine, but there are other figures associated with the holiday, such as Cupid.
Cupid is the god of love in Roman mythology. In Greek mythology, he is known as Eros.
Cupid was the son of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. The ancient Romans depicted him with wings and a bow and arrow. Traditionally, Cupid has used these arrows to evoke love between two people. If a person were shot with Cupid's arrow, then he or she would fall in love with the first person they saw.
Cupid has been used extensively in literature. William Shakespeare once wrote in A Midsummer Night's Dream, "love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind."
Valentine's Day has evolved down through the annals of history but has kept its original meaning of love.
Today the holiday is built around lovers and romantic rendezvous.
Many couples can be seen dressed up and going out for a romantic dinner on that night. Enormous amounts of flowers are sent, and a dozen roses seem to be the special arrangement for the occasion. Lovers everywhere also will receive the famous box of Russell Stover's assorted chocolates.
"The greatest happiness is the conviction that we are loved – loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves," Victor Hugo, a 19th-century author wrote.
The prevalent feeling of Valentine's Day is love. Ever since the young men and women celebrated the feast of Lupercal, and ever since bishop Valentine sent the first Valentine to the jailer's daughter, the holiday has had a special place in lover's hearts.
Today, all over the world, husbands, wives, girlfriends and boyfriends will be saying, "I love you."
Be the first to comment on this article!