As youths the world over eagerly await the arrival of Valentine’s Day one wonders how the celebration of the actually came about. Although there exist numerous theories as to the evolution of this day a theory strongly believed is that it originated in remembrance of St. Valentine who lived at Rome in 270 A.D. during the rule of Emperor Claudius II, also known as Claudius the Cruel. During his reign the emperor carried out numerous bloody campaigns but soon found to his dismay that a position in his army was not an attractive option to the young men of his kingdom due to the constant battles he fought. He believed the cause for this to be the young men’s love and attachment to their fiancés or spouses. So he believed that banning all engagements and marriages would solve the problem and issued an order to that effect. However, there was a priest in his empire called Valentine who continued to secretly conduct marriages for those that so desired and was soon arrested and thrown into prison.
It is said that during the course of his imprisonment he became friendly with the jailer’s daughter who kept him cheerful by her company.
He had obviously touched a chord in the common people’s hearts of his time who began to hail him as a saint who was suffering for believing and sanctioning love. Before being taken to his execution he is believed to have left a small note for the jailer’s daughter thanking her for her friendship and signing it off as ‘Love from your Valentine’. The custom of exchanging friendly messages is said to have started from this day on.
Also during mid February in 270 A.D. the Romans celebrated the Feast of Lupercalia every year in worship of their gods and a ceremony was held where young men picked out names of eligible maidens from a box who became their partners for the duration of the festival. If the couple liked each other they would eventually marry.
So it is said that to replace this festival the Catholic Church chose to replace the date of the Feast of Lupercalis as the day to honor the martyr St. Valentine and so Pope Gelasius marked February 14 as the Feast of St. Valentine.
In the centuries that followed February 14 began to be celebrated as the day for exchanging love messages, small gifts such as flowers or spoons and soon St. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers. Also balls or social gatherings began to be organized during this day.
During the Middle Ages strange customs began to be followed in Europe and England on this day. Wooden love spoon with carvings of key, key hole and hearts began to be exchanged.
The Roman custom of selecting a maidens’ name from a bowl began to be followed in other countries as well. The boy would wear the name on his sleeve for a week from which the saying `wearing your heart on your sleeve’ originated.
However it is Miss Esther Howland of US who is believed to have sent the first valentine cards in the late 17th cent. In 1800 commercial valentine cards were introduced and today on Valentine day stores conduct booming business.
Although the day is usually celebrated as the day to greet your better half yet there are many who