REAL HISTORY OF VALENTINE YOU NEED TO KNOW
It's renowned for being most romantic day of the year'.
And many of us use it as an opportunity to show affection for our loved ones with cards, flowers or chocolates.
But why exactly do we celebrate Valentine's Day and why does it fall on February 14?
Well we've trawled through the history books to find out the real reasons so you don't have to - and the background casts a very different light on the holiday.
Valentine's Day is an old tradition thought to have originated from a Roman Festival known as Lupercalia, according to History.com.
It was held on February 15 as a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture.
During the celebrations boys would draw names of girls from a box and the pair would be partners during the festival.
These matches often led to marriage.
The festival survived the initial rise of Christianity but was outlawed at the end of the 5th century when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St Valentine's Day.
What does he really have to do with love?
Valentine did help marry couples in secret, which is arguably very romantic. He is the patron saint of beekeepers and epilepsy among other things..like the plague, fainting and travelling. That doesn't stop people calling on his help for those romantically involved. He's now also patron of engaged couples and happy marriages.
Why is his skull kept in Rome?
Yes, that's right. St Valentine's skull is housed and adorned in flowers in Rome. It's actually on display in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.
It was found when people were excavating a catacomb near Rome in the early 1800s. The skeletal remains and other relics now associated with St Valentine were dug up. It's the norm for these to be split and distributed to reliquaries - places that keep relics - around the world. If you wanted to see other parts of the saint, he's on display in the Czech Republic, Ireland, Scotland, England and France.
Why do we give Valentine's cards?
Another idea is that when he was sent to prison, he sent a letter to a young girl he had fallen in love with and signed it "From your Valentine".
It's thought this was the first ever Valentine's Day greeting
In the third century, the Roman Empire was being invaded by Goths. At the same time, the Plague of Cyprian, probably smallpox, broke out, killing at its height 5,000 people a day. So many died that the Roman army was depleted of soldiers.
Needing more soldiers to fight the invading Goths, and believing that men fought better if they were not married, Emperor Claudius II banned traditional marriage in the military.
Emperor Claudius II quelled internal rivalries resulting from the previous Emperor Gallienus’ assassination by having the Roman Senate deify Emperor Gallienus to be worshiped with the other Roman gods. Citizens were forced to worship the Roman gods by placing a pinch of incense on the fire before their statues. Those who refused worship of the Roman gods were considered “unpatriotic” enemies of the state and killed. Emperor Decian’s persecution specifically targeted Christians with legislation forcing them to deny their consciences or die.
During the first three centuries of Christianity, there were 10 major persecutions in which the government threw Christians to the lions, boiled them alive, had their tongues cut out and worse. Christian writings, scriptures and historical records were destroyed.
Because so many records were destroyed, details of Saint Valentine’s life are scant. What little is known was passed down and finally printed in the year 1260 in Legenda Sanctorum by Jacobus de Voragine, and in the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493.
Saint Valentine was either a priest in Rome or a bishop in Terni, central Italy. He risked the Emperor’s wrath by standing up for traditional marriage, secretly marrying soldiers to their young brides. When Emperor Claudius demanded that Christians deny their consciences and worship pagan idols, Saint Valentine refused. Saint Valentine was arrested, dragged before the Prefect of Rome, and condemned him to die.
While awaiting execution, his jailer, Asterius, asked Saint Valentine to pray for his blind daughter. When she miraculously regained her sight, the jailer converted and was baptized, along with many others.
Right before his execution, Saint Valentine wrote a note to the jailer’s daughter, signing it “from your Valentine.”
Saint Valentine was beaten with clubs and stones, and when that failed to kill him, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate on Feb. 14, 269 A.D.
In 496 A.D., Pope Gelasius designated Feb. 14 as “Saint Valentine’s Day.”
In the High Middle Ages, Geoffrey Chaucer, called the father of English literature, wrote “Parliament of Foules” (c.1393) that birds chose their mates in mid-February: “For this was Saint Valentine’s day, when every bird of every kind that men can imagine comes to this place to choose his mate.”
After Chaucer, literature began associating Saint Valentine’s Day with courtly love. This eventually developed into the 18th-century English traditions of presenting flowers, offering confectionery and sending Valentine greeting cards.
People often sign Valentine cards with Xs and Os. The Greek name for Christ, Χριστό, begins with the letter “X,” which in Greek is called “Chi.” “X” became a common abbreviation for the name Christ. This is why Christ-mas is abbreviated as X-mas. In Medieval times, the “X” was called the Christ’s Cross, or “Criss-Cross.”
The “Criss-Cross Row” was the way colonial school children learned the alphabet, where they would start at the X and say “May Christ’s Cross grant me speed (success)” and then proceed to recite the 26 letters.
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And many of us use it as an opportunity to show affection for our loved ones with cards, flowers or chocolates.
But why exactly do we celebrate Valentine's Day and why does it fall on February 14?
Well we've trawled through the history books to find out the real reasons so you don't have to - and the background casts a very different light on the holiday.
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| Saint Valentine helping a soldier to marry his beloved |
It was held on February 15 as a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture.
During the celebrations boys would draw names of girls from a box and the pair would be partners during the festival.
These matches often led to marriage.
The festival survived the initial rise of Christianity but was outlawed at the end of the 5th century when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St Valentine's Day.
What does saint Valentine Have To Do With Valentine's Day.
What does he really have to do with love?
Valentine did help marry couples in secret, which is arguably very romantic. He is the patron saint of beekeepers and epilepsy among other things..like the plague, fainting and travelling. That doesn't stop people calling on his help for those romantically involved. He's now also patron of engaged couples and happy marriages.
Why is his skull kept in Rome?
Yes, that's right. St Valentine's skull is housed and adorned in flowers in Rome. It's actually on display in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.
It was found when people were excavating a catacomb near Rome in the early 1800s. The skeletal remains and other relics now associated with St Valentine were dug up. It's the norm for these to be split and distributed to reliquaries - places that keep relics - around the world. If you wanted to see other parts of the saint, he's on display in the Czech Republic, Ireland, Scotland, England and France.
Why do we give Valentine's cards?
Another idea is that when he was sent to prison, he sent a letter to a young girl he had fallen in love with and signed it "From your Valentine".
It's thought this was the first ever Valentine's Day greeting
Needing more soldiers to fight the invading Goths, and believing that men fought better if they were not married, Emperor Claudius II banned traditional marriage in the military.
Emperor Claudius II quelled internal rivalries resulting from the previous Emperor Gallienus’ assassination by having the Roman Senate deify Emperor Gallienus to be worshiped with the other Roman gods. Citizens were forced to worship the Roman gods by placing a pinch of incense on the fire before their statues. Those who refused worship of the Roman gods were considered “unpatriotic” enemies of the state and killed. Emperor Decian’s persecution specifically targeted Christians with legislation forcing them to deny their consciences or die.
During the first three centuries of Christianity, there were 10 major persecutions in which the government threw Christians to the lions, boiled them alive, had their tongues cut out and worse. Christian writings, scriptures and historical records were destroyed.
Because so many records were destroyed, details of Saint Valentine’s life are scant. What little is known was passed down and finally printed in the year 1260 in Legenda Sanctorum by Jacobus de Voragine, and in the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493.
Saint Valentine was either a priest in Rome or a bishop in Terni, central Italy. He risked the Emperor’s wrath by standing up for traditional marriage, secretly marrying soldiers to their young brides. When Emperor Claudius demanded that Christians deny their consciences and worship pagan idols, Saint Valentine refused. Saint Valentine was arrested, dragged before the Prefect of Rome, and condemned him to die.
While awaiting execution, his jailer, Asterius, asked Saint Valentine to pray for his blind daughter. When she miraculously regained her sight, the jailer converted and was baptized, along with many others.
Right before his execution, Saint Valentine wrote a note to the jailer’s daughter, signing it “from your Valentine.”
Saint Valentine was beaten with clubs and stones, and when that failed to kill him, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate on Feb. 14, 269 A.D.
In 496 A.D., Pope Gelasius designated Feb. 14 as “Saint Valentine’s Day.”
In the High Middle Ages, Geoffrey Chaucer, called the father of English literature, wrote “Parliament of Foules” (c.1393) that birds chose their mates in mid-February: “For this was Saint Valentine’s day, when every bird of every kind that men can imagine comes to this place to choose his mate.”
After Chaucer, literature began associating Saint Valentine’s Day with courtly love. This eventually developed into the 18th-century English traditions of presenting flowers, offering confectionery and sending Valentine greeting cards.
People often sign Valentine cards with Xs and Os. The Greek name for Christ, Χριστό, begins with the letter “X,” which in Greek is called “Chi.” “X” became a common abbreviation for the name Christ. This is why Christ-mas is abbreviated as X-mas. In Medieval times, the “X” was called the Christ’s Cross, or “Criss-Cross.”
The “Criss-Cross Row” was the way colonial school children learned the alphabet, where they would start at the X and say “May Christ’s Cross grant me speed (success)” and then proceed to recite the 26 letters.
Also read: NEWEST HIT SONG IN CHUKA. HUJASKIA HII!!!
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