[Desi Masala] History of St Valentines Day
History of St Valentines Day
Valentine's Day - the popular festival of love and romances traces its
origin to ancient Roman festival and has not been created by card
companies as some people believe it to be. There are various legends
associated with the festival along with the belief that birds began to
mate from this day. Popularity of the Valentine's Day festival stems
from the combined effects of all these legends, beliefs and of course
the wish to glorify the unparalleled feeling of love.
Feast of Lupercalia
Historians trace the origin of Valentine's Day to ancient Roman Empire.
It is said that in the Rome of ancient times people observed a holiday
on February 14th to honor Juno - the Queen of Roman Gods and Goddesses.
The Romans also regarded Juno as the Goddess of Women and Marriage. On
the following day, February 15th began the fertility festival called
'Feast of Lupercalia'. The festival of Lupercalia was celebrated to
honor the Gods Lupercus and Faunus - the Roman God of Agriculture
besides the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.
An interesting custom was followed in the Feast of Lupercalia to bring
together young boys and girls who otherwise were strictly separated. On
the eve of the festival names of young Roman girls were written on a
slip of paper and placed into jars. Each young man drew out a girl's
name from the jar and was paired with the girl for the duration of
Lupercalia. Sometime pairing lasted for a year until next year's
celebration. Quite often, the couple would fall in love with each other
and later marry. The custom lasted for a long time until people felt
that the custom was un-Christian and that mates should be chosen by
sight, not luck.
Defiance by Saint Valentine
The pairing of young boys and girls did set the mood of the Valentine's
Day Festival as we know today. But it was actually due to the efforts
and daring of a priest St Valentine that the festival got its name and
clearer meaning. The story goes that during the reign of Emperor
Claudius II Rome was involved in several bloody and unpopular campaigns.
Claudius found it tough to get soldiers and felt the reason was men did
not join army because they did not wish to leave their wives and
families. As a result Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements
in Rome. A romantic at heart priest of Rome Saint Valentine defied
Claudius's unjustified order. Along with Saint Marius, St Valentine
secretly married couples. When his defiance was discovered, Valentine
was brutally beaten and put to death on February 14, about 270 AD. After
his death Valentine was named a Saint.
According to another version of legend Valentine was killed because he
attempted to help Christians escape from the Roman prison as they were
being tortured and beaten there. Yet another popular version of the
legend states that while in prison Valentine or Valentinus fell in love
with jailer's daughter who visited him during confinement. Before his
death Valentine wrote a farewell letter to his sweetheart from the jail
and signed `From your Valentine'. The expression became quite
popular amongst love struck and is still very much in vogue.
By the Middle Ages, Valentine assumed the image of heroic and romantic
figure amongst the masses in England and France. Later, when
Christianity spread through Rome, the priests moved Lupercalia from
February 15 to February 14. Around 498 AD, Pope Gelasius declared
February 14 as St. Valentine's Day to honor the martyr Valentinus and to
end the pagan celebration.
Beginning of Birds Mating Season
During the Middle Ages, people in England and France held a belief that
birds started to look for their mate from February 14. This popular
notion further helped to link Valentine's Day - celebrated in the middle
of the February, with love and romance. Over the period of time, St
Valentine became the patron saint of lovers and they began to celebrate
Valentine's Day as a day of romance by exchanging love notes and simple
gifts such as flower.
Popularity of St Valentines Day
Valentine's Day festival gradually grew in popularity amongst the masses
due to the combined effect of all the above said reasons. To mark the
day lovers began to exchange love notes called `Valentines' with
their sweethearts. In the beginning the trend was to send handmade cards
but this was changed in the beginning of 19th century and mentine's Day
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