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Valentine’s Day: The Origin of a Special Day By Christiana Votta
Valentine's day is a day that comes around once every year on the fourteenth of February. It's a renowned holiday where couples or friends exchange gifts and cards. For instance, chocolates and flowers are one of the first gifts that come to mind when we think of this holiday. However, what is the legend that surrounds this love-filled day that we celebrate?
Valentine’s day is a day that comes around once every year on the fourteenth of February. It’s a renowned holiday where couples or friends exchange gifts and cards. For instance, chocolates and flowers are one of the first gifts that come to mind when we think of this holiday. However, what is the legend that surrounds this love-filled day that we celebrate?
My favorite version of this legend centers around Christian and Roman traditions. Saint Valentine was a priest who was believed to have served during the third century in Rome. The emperor at the time Claudius ll reckoned that single men made better soldiers than those who had wives and a family. So he passed a decree that soldiers could not marry. However, Valentine was appalled by this, so he continued to perform marriages for the soldiers in secret. In the end, Valentine ends up getting captured and executed for going against the Emperor’s wishes. But, during his confinement, he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter, who visited him frequently during his imprisonment. Before Valentine was executed he wrote a letter to her and ended it with “from your valentine”. This is where the origin of this phrase comes from.
Another version of this legend stated that Valentine helped free Christians from Roman prisons. However, in both versions of this legend, Valentine ends up being imprisoned and then executed. Both stories emphasize that he was heroic and even romantic.
It is claimed that Valentine’s day was originally celebrated to commemorate the anniversary of the saint’s death. But, how did these events cause the creation of Valentine’s day that we know and celebrate today? It was not till much later that Valentine’s day held the meaning of love. In the middle ages, it was most commonly believed mostly in England and France that February 14th marked the start of birds and other animals finding partners. Which goes on to add to the idea that Valentine’s day should be a day of romance. This idea spreads when English poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the poem, “Parliament of Foules”, stating that “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh there to choose his mate.“
As you can see, there is a lot of history behind Valentine’s day. I was rather surprised that Valentine’s day wasn’t always a day to celebrate love. But, it was created to honor the mysterious Saint Valentine. It wasn’t till the early 1700s that Americans would even exchange Valentine’s day cards. It’s so incredible how much history there is surrounding this holiday. However, to know more about the origins of Valentine’s day, I suggest doing your research. The information that I have shared in this article is only a small part of how Valentine’s day came to be. There is always more to a story than what appears to be. To conclude, I hope this article helps inspire you to question why things are the way they are, and why we celebrate holidays and how they formed. There is so much history out there that I feel is overlooked. So, let’s start researching and questioning history.
Source Links: History.com Birtannica.com Gift percentages