Every February 14, across the United States and in other places around the world, candy, flowers and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint, and where did these traditions come from? Find out about the history of this centuries-old holiday, from ancient Roman rituals to the customs of Victorian England.
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Origins of Valentine’s Day: A Pagan Festival in February
While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle
of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or
burial–which probably occurred around A.D. 270–others claim that the
Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in
the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan
celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or
February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus,
the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus
and Remus.
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To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman
priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and
Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a
she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and
a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat’s hide into
strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets,
gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from
being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it
was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the
day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place
their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would each choose a name
and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches
often ended in marriage.
