While it may be tempting to think of Valentine’s Day as a festival of Love, a day when you show small or big love gestures to express your unconditional love towards that one special person in your life. This day of love has a fascinating and muddled origin story. In modern era, we celebrate Valentine’s day by giving adorable love cards, fascinating gifts, or fancy candlelight dinner but the history of the festival can leave you stunned.
There may be many unanswered questions in your head about the festival of love like why out of 365 days only the 14th of February is considered as the love day, and why this theme of love is continuing to this day, and most importantly from where the name Valentine came from? The truth is that nobody really knows the true origin of this love day. They are many theories and stories behind the origin of the Valentine's Day. Even historians find themselves arguing over the exact traditions from which the present-day celebrationd take inspiration.
Here we bring you some really interesting theories about the celebration of Valentine'Day, the festival of Love:
Where does the word Valentine come from?
As we all know, we got this modern day of love because of some crazy and freaky ancient Romans. The day is, of course, named after the name of a catholic St. Valentine. According to many historians, the day filled with love is the combination of two Roman men. It’s believed that the catholic church may have established this day as Valentine’s day for honoring the Saint who sacrificed his life for officiating weddings for Roman soldiers. At the time of Valentine's life, many Romans were converting to Christianity, but Emperor Claudius II was a pagan and created strict laws about what Christians were allowed to do. Claudius believed that the Soldiers should not get distracted by anything like Marriage and should be completely devoted to their country. So, he introduced a new law preventing them from Marryjng. St Valentine began to solemnise marriage of these soldiers in secret Christian ceremonies and this was the beginning of his reputation for believing in the importance of love.
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There is another story related to St. Valentine that can be the originator of practicing the tradition of writing love letters on the occasion of Valentine’s Day. It is said that just before taking his last breath he wrote the first ever love letter to a young girl he tutored and fell in love with while he was imprisoned for the crimes outlined above and signed it with “from your Valentine’ that became a popularly used phrase on the love day.
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There is another dark theory about the origin of Valentine which very few know about. According to this theoy, Valentine’s day was originated by Pope Gelasius in order to replace the ancient Roman festival Lupercalia, a day marked to celebrate the fertility dedicated to the ancient Roman God of Agriculture. As a tradition of this feast of debauchery, the Roman priests ran naked on the street, slapping all the young women of town with blood-soaked hides of sacrificed animals, which, they believed, will impress the God of Agriculture and he will bless them with good fertility.
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Today, Valentine is one of the most celebrated festivals all around the globe. According to a survey by National Retail Federation, a person will spend $196.31, on an average, for Valentine's Day this year. Across the nation, holiday sales are expected to eclipse $27.4 billion. From fancy date plans to a dozen of roses, lovers don’t leave any stone unturned to express their love.
