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Article by Tabea Dapous 10C (Published 18.02.2024)
To lighten our grey February months, we celebrate love and affection with those who mean the most to us on a day known as Valentine’s Day. Every year on the 14th of February, chocolates are bought, cards are written and flowers are given. But where does this celebration come from? No one is quite agreed on the origins of Valentine's Day, but there are many assumptions.
According to one legend, Valentine (who would later be known as St Valentine) was a Roman priest in the third century AD. During this time, the Roman Emperor Claudius II and his army fought many battles. Claudius II believed marriage was a distraction to war. So, Claudius decided to forbid all marriage for soldiers. The Priest Valentine, however, thought this to be unfair and silly. In response, he arranged marriages covertly, going against the emperor's will. When Claudius received word of Valentine's defiance, he threw Valentine into jail and sentenced him to death. During his time in jail, it is said that he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter. On the 14th of February, the day of his execution, he sent her a love letter signed with “from your Valentine”.
A completely different take on the origins of Valentine’s day is that it stems from an old Roman festival. To mark the start of their springtime, the Romans would have a celebration in the middle of February called Lupercalia. This festival included many rituals, one being believed to include boys drawing names of girls from a box. Many of the festival couples later ended up getting married. Years later, the Church wanted the occasion turned into a Christian holiday. They decided to use the opportunity to honour St Valentines as well. By then, he had been canonised for helping the persecuted Christians and was martyred during the Roman Empire.
The first Valentine’s day was celebrated in 496 AD and over time gradually turned into the festivity as we know it today.
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