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Valentine's Day, on February 14th, is the traditional day
on which lovers in the West let each other know about their love. Originally an ancient Catholic Church feast day in honor of Saint Valentine, it probably became associated with romantic love in the Middle Ages.
Valentine's Day postcard, c. 1910
The day is most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines", a practice that dates
back to the rise of romantic love in Europe (14th century). Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged Cupid. Starting in the 20th century, the
practice of hand writing notes has largely given way to the exchange of mass-produced greeting cards. The Greeting Card Association estimates that world-wide
approximately one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year
behind Christmas. The association also estimates that women purchase
approximately 85 percent of all valentines.
In the United States in the second half of the 20th century, the practice of exchanging cards has been extended to include the
giving of all manner gifts, in a heterosexual relationship usually from the
man to the woman. Such gifts typically include roses and chocolate. Starting in the 1980s, the diamond industry began to promote Valentine's day as occasion for the giving of fine jewelry.
A dinner date on Valentine's Day is often regarded as indicating that a dating
couple are involved in a serious relationship.
In the United States the day has come to be associated as well with a
generic Platonic greeting of "Happy Valentine's", which may be said by
men to their female friends, but rarely to other male friends.
History of Valentine's Day
February fertility festivals
The association of the middle of February with love and fertility dates to ancient times. In the calendar of Ancient Athens, the period between mid January and mid February was the month
of Gamelion, which was dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera.
In Ancient Rome, the day of February 15 was Lupercalia, the festival of Lupercus, the god of fertility, who was represented as half-naked and dressed in goat skins. As part of the purification ritual, the priests of Lupercus would sacrifice goats to
the god, and after drinking wine, they would run through the streets of Rome holding pieces
of the goat skin above their heads, touching anyone they met. Young women especially would come forth voluntarily for the
occasion, in the belief that being so touched would render them fruitful and bring easy childbirth.
The Church Holiday
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia
(1908), at least three different Saints Valentine, all of them martyrs, are mentioned
in the early martyrologies under the date of February 14th:
- a priest in Rome who suffered martyrdom in the second half of the 3rd century and was buried on the Via Flaminia.
- a bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) also suffered martyrdom in the second half of
the 3rd century and was also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than the priest.
- a martyr in North Africa, about whom little else is
known.
The connection between St. Valentine and romantic love is not mentioned in any early histories and is regarded by historians
as purely a matter of legend (see below). The feast of St. Valentine was first declared to be on February 14 by Pope Gelasius I around 498. There is a
widespread legend that he created the day to counter the practice held on Lupercalia of young men and women pairing off as lovers
by drawing their names out of an urn, but this practice is not attested in any sources from that era.
In the 19th century, relics of
St. Valentine were donated by Pope Gregory XVI to the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in
Dublin, Ireland, which has become a popular
place of pilgrimage on February 14.
In 1969, as part of a larger effort to pare down the number of saint days of purely
legendary origin, the Church removed St. Valentine's Day as an official holiday from its calendar.
Medieval Era
The first recorded association of St. Valentine's Day with romantic love was in the 14th century in England and France, where it was believed that February 14 was the day on which birds paired off to mate. This belief is
mentioned in the writings of Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century, who wrote in the Parlement of Foules that
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- For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day
- Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate
It was common during that era for lovers to exchange notes on this day and to call each other their "Valentines". A 14th
century valentine is said to be in the collection of the British Library. It is probable that many of the legends about St.
Valentine were invented during this period. Among the legends are ones that assert that:
- On the evening before St. Valentine was to be martyred for being a Christian, he passed a love note to his jailer's daughter which read "From Your Valentine".
- During a ban on marriages of Roman soldiers by the Emperor Claudius II,
St. Valentine secretly helped arrange marriages.
In most versions of these legends, February 14 is the date associated with his martyrdom.
Modern Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day was probably imported into North America in the
19th century with settlers from Britain. In the United States, the first mass-produced valentines of embossed paper lace were
produced and sold shortly after 1847 by Esther A. Howland (1828 - 1904) of Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father operated a large book and stationery store, and she took her
inspiration from an English valentine she had received. (Since 2001, the Greeting Card Association has been giving an annual
"Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary".)
See also: Chinese Valentine's Day, Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
Valentine's Day in non-western countries
In Japan, Valentine's Day has emerged, thanks to a concentrated marketing effort, as a
day on which women give chocolates to men they like. Rather than being voluntary however, this has become for many women –
especially those who work in offices – an obligation, and they give chocolates to all their male co-workers, sometimes at
significant personal expense. This chocolate is known as giri-choco (義理チョコ), from the
words giri (obligation) and choco, a common short version of chokoreeto, meaning chocolate.
By a further marketing effort, a reciprocal day, called White Day has emerged.
On this day men are supposed to return the favour by giving something to those who gave them chocolates on Valentine's Day. Many
men, however, give only to their girlfriends. The return gift should be white (hence the name), and is often lingerie.
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