The Dark Origin of Valentine's Day

By Hana Berseneva, 2027

Published 2/13/2024

When someone thinks of Valentine's Day, they would probably picture a secret admirer asking their crush out, romantic proposals, dinner dates, or even getting your friends some candy and cards to tell them how much you appreciate their friendship. This holiday is the definition of love, but it never started this way,  instead, the celebration originated from the death of Saint Valentine. 

Valentine's Day,  also known as Saint Valentine's Day or the feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated on February 14th globally each year. There are numerous stories of how this specific holiday started, but the Roman version is the most common—this holiday first originated from the Roman festival called Lupercalia. Lupercalia was the celebration of fertility and innocence that took place on February 15th every year. During this celebration, they worshiped many Gods including the She-Wolf also known as “Lupa” who helped care for both Ramulus and Remus (the founders of Rome) and the gods of fertility. The festival began with the slaughter of various farm animals and skinning them. 

Then,  to grant young women's fertility, the citizens would lash them with these strips of skin. This only took place until the 5th century, when the Roman emperor decided to discard it as an attempt to Christianize the holiday. He then announced that Saint Valentine's Day,  a new festival,  would be celebrated on February 14th,  in place of Lupercalia. There were countless people with the name Saint Valentine but based on Roman legends, the holiday was started with the one that lived in Rome during the 3rd century. 

In 3rd century Rome there was an emperor named Claudius II who wanted large armies. Because only men were allowed to fight, most men were forced to leave their beloved spouses for long periods. As a result of this, many men became homesick and worried about their families which would have caused them to go home. These thoughts disrupted the focus of fighting and training making the troops unlikely to earn a victory at times. Claudius II was furious which caused him to declare the ban on marriage. But a person named Father Valentine continued to marry couples despite the ban. 

Father Valentine was a Christian priest who thought the marriage ban was unjust so he continued to marry people in secret. But Claudius soon caught on and he sentenced Saint Valentine to prison and eventually, death. While Saint Valentine was in prison, a couple of the women he married would stop by and give him flowers and cards to show their appreciation for him.  After some time at the prison, Saint Valentine started falling in love with his jailer's daughter. On February 14th, the day of execution, he wrote a letter confessing his love for her and signed it, “Your Valentine.” 

A tradition was born. People started inscribing their cards with “your valentine,” as well as buying gifts for loved ones such as candy in heart-shaped boxes, bouquets, romantic dates, and marriage proposals. Who knew that this extremely heartwarming holiday started as something so violent and dark?