History of Valentine's Day - The Dark Origins Of Valentine's Day

What is Valentine's Day?

Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is a yearly occasion celebrated on February 14. It started as a Western Christian ceremonial feast day regarding at least one early saints named Valentinus and is perceived as a significant social and commercial festivity in numerous regions around the globe, despite the fact that it is not an open occasion in any nation.

Several suffering stories associated with the various Valentines that were associated with February 14 were added to later martyrologies, including a prevalent hagiographical record of Saint Valentine of Rome which demonstrated he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were illegal to wed and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire. As indicated by legend, amid his imprisonment, Saint Valentine recuperated the little girl of his prison guard, Asterius, and before his execution, he composed her a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a goodbye.

The day first got to be associated with romantic love inside the hover of Geoffrey Chaucer in the fourteenth century, when the custom of cultured love flourished. In eighteenth-century England, it advanced into an occasion in which lovers expressed their affection for each other by presenting flowers, offering candy parlor, and sending welcoming cards (known as "valentines"). In Europe, Saint Valentine's Keys are given to lovers "as a sentimental symbol and a welcome to open the supplier's heart", as well as to kids, with a specific end goal to avert epilepsy (called Saint Valentine's Malady).Valentine's Day symbols that are used today incorporate the heart-shaped layout, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the nineteenth century, written by hand valentines have offered an approach to mass-created welcoming cards.

Saint Valentine's Day is an official feast day in the Anglican conversation, as well as in the Lutheran Church. Many part of the Eastern Orthodox Church also observe Saint Valentine's Day, but on July 6 and July 30, the previous date to pay tribute to the Roman presbyter Saint Valentine, and the last date out of appreciation for Hieromartyr Valentine, the Bishop of Interamna (present day Terni).

Historical facts 

Shrine of St. Valentine in Whitefriar pathway Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland

Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. The Valentines regarded on February 14 are Valentine of Rome (Valentinus press. m. Romae) and Valentine of Terni (Valentinus ep. Interkinesis m. Romae). Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred in 269 and was added to the logbook of saints by Pope Galerius in 496 and was covered on the Via Flaminia. The relics of Saint Valentine were kept in the Church and Catacombs of San Valentino in Rome, which "remained a vital explorer site all through the Middle Ages until the relics of St. Valentine were transferred to the congregation of Santa Prassede amid the pontificate of Nicholas IV". The blossom delegated skull of Saint Valentine is shown in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome. Different relics are found at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland.

Valentine of Terni got to be bishop of Interamna (cutting edge Terni) and is said to have been martyred amid the persecution under Emperor Aurelian in 273. He is covered on the Via Flaminia, yet in an alternate area from Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni (Basilica di San Valentino). Jack B. Oruch states that "abstracts of the acts of the two saints were in about each congregation and monastery of Europe." The Catholic Encyclopedia also speaks of a third saint named Valentine who was said in early martyrologies under date of February 14. He was martyred in Africa with various companions, however, nothing more is thought about him. Saint Valentine's head was preserved in the nunnery of New Minster, Winchester, and venerated.

February 14 is commended as St. Valentine's Day in various Christian denominations; it has, for instance, the rank of "celebration" in the logbook of saints in the Anglican Communion.Moreover, the feast day of Saint Valentine is also given in the datebook of saints of the Lutheran Church. However, in the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, the feast day of Saint Valentine on February 14 was expelled from the General Roman Calendar and consigned to specific (neighborhood or even national) calendars for the accompanying reason: "However the commemoration of Saint Valentine is old, it is left to specific calendars, since, aside from his name, nothing is known about Saint Valentine with the exception of that he was covered on the Via Flaminia on February 14."

The feast day is still celebrated in Balzan (Malta) where debris of the saint are asserted to be found, furthermore all through the world by Traditionalist Catholics who take after the more seasoned, pre-Second Vatican Council logbook.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, St. Valentine is perceived on July 6, in which Saint Valentine, the Roman presbyter, is regarded; what's more, the Eastern Orthodox Church observes the feast of Hieromartyr Valentine, Bishop of Interamna, on July 30.

Society traditions

While the European society traditions associated with Saint Valentine and St. Valentine's Day have gotten to be minimized by the present-day Anglo-American customs interfacing the day with romantic love, there are some residual associations associating the saint with the coming of spring.

While the custom of sending cards, flowers, chocolates and different gifts began in the UK, Valentine's Day still remains associated with various local customs in England. In Norfolk, a character called "Jack" Valentine knocks on the back entryway of houses leaving sweets and presents for kids. In spite of the fact that he was leaving treats, numerous youngsters were scared of this mystical person.

In Slovenia, Saint Valentine or Zdravko was one of the saints of spring, the saint of good health and the supporter of beekeepers and pilgrims. An adage says that "Saint Valentine brings the keys of roots". Plants and flowers start to develop on this day. It has been commended as the day when the first work in the vineyards and in the fields commences. It is also said that birds propose to each other or wed on that day. Another adage says "Valentin – prove paladin" ("Valentine — the first spring saint"), as in some places (especially White Carniola), Saint Valentine marks the start of spring. Valentine's Day has just as of late been praised as the day of adoration. The day of affection was customarily March 12, the Saint Gregory's day, or February 22, Saint Vincent's Day. The supporter of affection was Saint Anthony, whose day has been commended on June 13.

Connection with romantic love

There is no proof of any connection between St. Valentine's Day and the rites of the antiquated Roman festival, despite many claims by numerous authors.The festivity of Saint Valentine did not have any romantic connotations until Chaucer's verse about "Valentines" in the fourteenth century.

Prominent present day sources guarantee links to unspecified Greco-Roman February holidays claimed to be dedicated to richness and love to St. Valentine's Day, however preceding Chaucer in the fourteenth century, there were no links between the Saints named Valentinus and sentimental love.Earlier links as described above were focused on sacrifice as opposed to sentimental love. In the antiquated Athenian logbook, the period between mid-January and mid-February was the month of Gamelion, devoted to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera.

In Ancient Rome, Lupercalia, observed February 13–15, was an age-old ritual associated with richness. Lupercalia was a festival neighborhood to the city of Rome. The more broad Festival of Juno Februa, signifying "Juno the purifier" or "the chaste Juno", was commended on February 13–14. Pope Gelasius I Some researchers have guessed that Gelasius I supplanted Lupercalia with the festival of the Purification of Mary on February 14 and claim an association with the fourteenth century's connotations of sentimental love, however, there is no historical sign that he ever expected such a thing.Also, the dates don't fit because at the season of Gelasius I the feast was just celebrated in Jerusalem, and it was on February 14 simply because Jerusalem set the Nativity on January 6. In spite of the fact that it was called "Refinement of Mary", it managed for the most part with the presentation of Jesus at the sanctuary. The Jerusalem's Purification of Mary on February 14 turned into the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple on February 2 as it was acquainted with Rome and different places in the sixth century, after Gelasius I's opportunity.

Alban Butler in his Lifes of the Principal Saints (1756–1759) asserted without verification that men and ladies in Lupercalia drew names from a container to make couples and that cutting edge Valentine's letters started from this custom. As a general rule, this practice began in the Middle Ages, with no connection to Lupercalia, with men drawing the names of girls at arbitrary to couple with them. This custom was battled by priests, for instance by Frances de Sales around 1600, evidently by supplanting it with a religious custom of girls drawing the names of apostles from the sacred place. Notwithstanding, this religious custom is recorded as soon as the thirteenth century in the life of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, so it could have an alternate birthplace.