The History of Valentines Day

We all know the chocolate, flowers and candy hearts traditionally associated with the holiday of Valentine's Day but does anyone know where the holiday really comes from? Every source and person seems to have a different story they support giving no real answer to the question. So since there are so many conflicting tales let's run through them together, and brace yourself because some get a little gory. 

We start way way back in ancient Rome with a priest named Valentine. When the emperor outlawed marriage for young men because he deemed single men better fighters, Valentine continued to wed young lovers unbenounced to the emperor. As you’ll find most of these early priests were when the emperor found out what they had done, Valentine was beheaded.

 Our next alleged Valentine was the bishop of Turni within the same time period. This Saint Valentine helped prisoners facing brutal punishments escape to start a better life but soon he himself was imprisoned for these actions. He got frequent visitors from the jailer’s daughter and in the spirit of the holiday, fell in love. He sent the first alleged Valentine to her, coining the phrase “from your Valentine '' which is still in use today. He too sadly ended up being beheaded. No matter the very first Saint Valentine, the reputation of a heroic and romantic Saint spread through Europe through the Middle Ages. 

But we aren't done yet! Some people reject the idea of a Saint at all and claim Valentine’s Day is based on a Christianized version of an old Pagan holiday, Lupercalia. Also celebrated in February, Lupercalia celebrated fertility and the roman founders, Romulus and Remus. To kick off the holiday, a group of priests would gather at the cave where Romulus and Remus were believed to be brought up by a she-wolf. Then they would sacrifice a goat for fertility and put its hide into strips and dunk it in sacred blood. The priests would then take to the streets with their bloody goat hide and gently slap women with them. It was believed that the blessed goat hide made women more fertile so women would try to get as much goat hide as they could. Later on in the day, All the village single ladies would place their names in a big urn and await the village men to pick names from it. They would then pair off and often these matches resulted in marriage. 

But no matter the real start to the tradition, it gained heavy popularity through the 18th and 19th centuries and eventually evolved to what we know it as today. So no matter your relationship status, eat some heart shaped chocolate and remember the bloody goat hides that came before you.