February especially 14th was associated with love. Flowers, choc'lates, card givings, dates in short it is a time wherein romance and love is celebrated. All credits to a so-called St Valentine. Who was this saint? But did you know that its history was never romantic, rather it is dark and bloody? It is also one that is associated with pagan rituals of the Ancient Rome. Indeed, Rome was a place where major occasions originated like Christmas.
Valentine
There were three men whom were recognized by the Catholic church, Valentine or Valentinus as they were called were martyred by Emperor Claudius ll. It was on February 14 during the 3rd century A.D but on different year.
Legends foretold that Valentine was a priest during the time of Emperor Claudius ll- who ordered all single men better be made soldiers than men with families. Valentine saw the injustice of the decree and performed marriage of young couples in secret. His action was discovered and the Emperor ordered he be beheaded.
Bishop Valentine of Terni was also beheaded outside of Rome by the same Emperor. It was told that he helped Roman Christians escaped prison where they were often beaten and tortured. It was believed that he was the true namesake of the Holiday.
Another man who was a prisoner with the same name fell in love with a girl- his jailor's daughter. Before his death, he wrote a letter signed "From your Valentine" which was being used until today.,
Ancient Roman pagan tradition
Even before the time of the Valentine's, a Roman festival of fertility was celebrated. It was called Lupercalia. Roman Priests gather at a cave where it was believed the infants Romulus and Remus (the founders of Rome) were nurtured by a she-wolf. They sacrificed a dog for purification and a goat for fertility. The sacrificial goat's hide was then cut into strips and dipped into the sacrificial blood. The priests take it to the streets where men took it and whipped ladies with it. The ladies welcomed the whip for it was believed that it would make them fertile for the year.
The festival included young ladies names put in a jar where bachelors of the city draw them. The matchmaking lasts a year which ended to a marriage when the couple fell in love with each other.
Valentine's Day
Pope Gelasius 1 declared February 14 as Valentine's day. A day to commemorate the burial of the Valentines and to christianize Lupercalia which was deemed un-christian.
During the middle ages, Geoffrey Chaucer, a great poet first recorded in his poem February 14 as a romantic celebration. Another great poet, William Shakespeare romanticized the day with his poem, too.
Cupid
One personality which was portrayed during Valentine's is Cupid. The chubby cherub from the Roman mythology with a bow shooting arrows to both gods and human causing them to fall in love instantly. That made it clear why it was brought to Valentine's.
Valentines day was one among those holidays that makes associated businesses boom on that day. Therefore, it really is being observed in every corner of the world
Whether you have celebrated the day with your lover, family, friends or colleagues it does not matter anymore how it was done. Others prefer to do it the SAD( single awareness day) way especially that its pandemic, a trip home is not the usual easy way.
