Valentine’s day. A holiday filled with candy, chocolate, and of course love. Although many look at Valentine’s day as a more joyful holiday, it actually has a rather dark past. Within this article, there will be two main ideas discussed. Both share a good idea of why we have valentines day, both seem very similar but do in fact have different origins.
As everyone may be aware of, Valentines day occurs every February 14. However, there are multiple stories affiliated with the modern day Valentines. This first myth involves the priest, Saint Valentine, along with the Roman Emperor Claudius II. The Emperor thought that single men fought better than those with families, so he banned marriage for young men. However, Saint Valentine thought that this ban was unfair, so he started marrying people in secret. But, the Emperor found out and had Saint Valentine beheaded.
However, people think that there is another variation to this myth, with Saint Valentine of Terni. Instead of being a priest, he was a bishop, who was also beheaded by Emperor Claudius. Valentine’s day is celebrated on February 14th because that was when Valentine was buried.
The second myth supposedly took place in a non religious celebration of Lupercalia. Lupercailia was a fertility festival dedicated to the Roman god Fanus, who is the god of agriculture. They had Saint Valentine’s feast on February 15th to try and “Christianize” Lupercalia. Instead, Lupercalia was banned by Pope Gelasius at the end of the 5th Century. The Valentines Feast was then moved to February 14th instead.
Many people know famous Valentine’s Day greetings, such as “I wheelie like you,” or “you are just write for me!” However, English poet Geoffery Chaucer was the first person to record a famous romance about Valentines day.He wrote a poem called “Parliament of Foules” in 1375
English poet Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to record the romance of the day. He wrote a poem about the day called “Parliament of Foules” in 1375, using Valentines Day as his inspiration. ““For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day/ Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.” From then on, Valentine’s greetings have been popular.
The first written Valentines appeared in the 1400s, and in 1415, Charles, Duke of Orleans, wrote one himself.
So what about you? What myth do you believe? Or are you just here for the candy? Because, so am I.
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