Valentine’s Day is here, and you know what that means: Valentine’s Day gift shopping, date planning, romantic dinner cooking, and lots of heart-themed crafting. You may be wondering, why exactly do we celebrate Valentine’s Day, anyway?
Valentine’s day is celebrated on every 14th day of February per year, take a break and read about these Facts;
1. A Roman fertility festival was the holiday’s precursor.
It may be difficult to believe given how innocuous the holiday is nowadays, but the roots of Valentine’s Day stem from a bloody pagan fertility festival dating back to 6th century B.C. Every year, between February 13 and 15, Romans celebrated Lupercalia by sacrificing animals and slapping women with their hides, which was believed to make them more fertile.
2. There was more than one St. Valentine.
History tells us that Pope Gelasius I outlawed Lupercalia at the end of the 5th century and instituted St. Valentine’s Day on February 14. But who was the holiday’s patron saint?
Most sources point to one of two men of the same name: a third-century Roman priest who defied (and was martyred by) Claudius II Gothicus, or another priest of the same time period but who hailed from a town about 60 miles away in what is modern-day Terni, Italy (he was also martyred by Claudius II). To further muddy the waters, some contend these two Valentines were the same person, while the Catholic Education Resource Center points to early martyrologies for three St. Valentines, all sharing a feast day on February 14.
3. Valentine’s Day wasn’t romantic until the Middle Ages.
And we have birds and Chaucer to thank. In medieval times, it was common wisdom that birds began mating in mid-February, specifically on the 14th, aka St. Valentine’s Day. According to The Folklore Society, people in those days tended to refer to dates by the saint designated on that day by the Church’s calendar (there were no printed calendars and names were easier to remember than numbers). Through this happenstance, Valentine’s Day became associated with making like a bird and pairing off.
4. The earliest known valentine has a sad love story behind it.
The very first valentine is said to have been a poem sent in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife. Imprisoned in the Tower of London after his capture at Battle of Agincourt, he wrote, “I am already sick of love, My very gentle Valentine.” Unfortunately, it would be 20 more long years until the 21-year-old would be released from his cell.
5. Wearing your heart on your sleeve might have been a real thing.
Shakespeare used the expression in Othello, and that’s the first known recorded instance. Was the phrase a stroke of poetic genius, or did the famous bard draw it from real life? According to Merriam-Webster, it’s possible the phrase harkens back to the era of medieval jousts when a knight might dedicate a match to a lady by tying something of hers, such as a scarf, around his sleeve of armor. How chivalrous!
6. Cupid was a Greek god.
Literally. Yep, that cute little chubby baby with the bow and arrow we associate with Valentine’s Day started out way back in 700 B.C. as the Greeks’ handsome, virile god, Eros. Able to make mortals fall in love (or hate) with his magical arrows, he was remade into Cupid by the Romans around 4th century BCE. But, as Time.com reports, it wasn’t until the turn of the 19th century that Cupid became the face of Valentine’s Day for his “love-creating abilities.”
7. A young grad’s valentine startup shaped the American greeting card industry.
As celebrating Valentine’s Day became more popular, people began giving out little handwritten notes and other love tokens. By the early 1700s this practice had likely reached America, but mass-produced valentines didn’t become widely embraced in the States until the mid-1800s when “Mother of the American Valentine” Esther A. Howland, daughter to a Massachusetts stationer and a recent graduate of Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, changed the game.
8. A jaw-dropping 145 million Valentine’s Day cards are given each year.
And that doesn’t even include the little tear-apart cards kids stuff into their classmates’ valentine boxes at school. This number makes Valentine’s Day the second most popular card-giving holiday, right behind Christmas, according to Hallmark—which by the way was founded by another young entrepreneur, 18-year-old J.C. Hall in 1910.
9. Conversation hearts had humble beginnings.
The iconic little candy hearts emblazoned with Valentine’s Day messages were first created by a machine initially invented to make medical lozenges. But it wasn’t long before the Boston-based pharmacist who originated the gadget’s design decided to switch from making cough drops to crafting candy wafers, rebranding his company as New England Confectionery Company, or Necco.
By 1866, Necco was producing candy printed with messages that included “Married in white you have chosen right” and “How long shall I have to wait? Please be considerate.” Thirty-five years later, that candy took on the familiar heart shape we know and love today. Every day, some 100,000 pounds of the chalky, talkative little candies, which have a shelf life of five years, are made. That adds up to a whopping eight billion conversation hearts annually.
10. The Victorians began the trend of giving flowers for Valentine’s Day.
Red roses as a symbol of romance dates back to ancient Rome—it was the favorite posy of Venus, the Roman goddess of love (and Cupid’s mom). But it wasn’t until the the Victorian era that men really began giving the flower to women they were wooing.
11. Valentine’s Day is no longer a religious feast day.
In 1969, the feast day was removed from the Christian liturgical calendar due to how little was known about the patron saint(s). However, St. Valentine remains the patron saint of love, engaged couples, and happy marriages, as well as beekeepers, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, travelers, and young people. The devout can still feast in the secular sense on Valentine’s Day, unless Ash Wednesday happens to fall on February 14.
12. Galentine’s Day is a real thing.
If brunching with your best gal pals is your favorite part of Valentine’s Day, you might even move your festivities to February 13 for Galentine’s Day. This new holiday owes its existence to a 2010 episode of television’s hit sitcom, Parks and Recreation, but it’s quickly become a tradition in its own right complete with Galentine’s Day gifts. As Leslie Knope says, “We need to remember what’s important in life: friends, waffles, work. Or waffles, friends, work. Doesn’t matter, but work is third.”
End.
