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Valentine’s Day — But who was this “Valentine” and what is the origin of it?

February 13, 2024
professormaurice
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HAKIZIMANA Maurice

On February 14th, Valentine’s Day, a celebration of lovers, cards and gifts! While Valentine’s Day is widely associated with romance (and the commercial prowess of chocolatiers, restaurants and florists) these days, Valentine’s Day wouldn’t always have been so romantic. But where does this custom come from? Shall we discuss it? Let’s go.

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An encyclopedia tells us that “Valentine’s Day falls on the feast day of two martyrs named Valentine. This solemnity honored Junon, the Roman goddess of women and marriage, as well as PAN, the god of nature. —The World Book Encyclopaedia (1973), Vol. XX, p. 204.

Junon, the Roman goddess of women and marriage

PAN, the god of nature

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Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable says: “Valentine (Saint), a priest of Rome who was imprisoned for helping persecuted Christians. He was converted and (…) was beaten to death. His feast day falls on February 14 (…).

Valentine – who was he?

The World Book Encyclopedia provides additional information. The following is said about the various explanations put forward for Valentine’s Day practices:

“According to one of these versions, in the third century A.D., the Roman Emperor Claudius II forbade young men to marry. The emperor believed that bachelors made better soldiers. A priest named Valentine began to disobey the imperial order by secretly marrying young couples. (…) Many accounts indicate that Valentine was executed around 269 C.E., on February 14. It was in 496 that Pope Gelasius I gave February 14 the name of St. Valentine.”

Since 1496, Saint Valentine has officially been the Patron Saint of Lovers, by order of Pope Alexander VI. At that time, the protection of this patron saint applied mainly to singles who were looking for a soul mate. The Valentine’s Day festivities were precisely aimed at giving young singles the opportunity to find a partner for life.

Different customs existed in different regions, such as the game of hide-and-seek where the unmarried girls of a village hid while the single men set themselves the goal of finding them. Couples formed in this way could last for the evening or even get married!

The Very Ancient Origin of Valentine’s Day: Ancient Roman Lupercal Holidays

The ancient custom of choosing one’s Valentine had little to do with the saint. It was above all reminiscent of the ancient Roman festival Lupercal (…) or an analogy with the mating season among birds. It was marked by the presentation of gifts. The name of the festival is said to come from that of the Roman priests of Faunus, the Luperci, who used to sacrifice a goat in the cave of Lupercal on this occasion, assisted by two young men dressed simply in a loincloth and an animal skin.

An ode to fertility?

Some writings report that the priest who performed the sacrifice cut the foreheads of the young men so as to spill their blood on a ball of wool soaked in milk. They would then go out into the streets of Rome to whip women who wished to have a child within the year in order to make them fertile, using strips cut from the skin of the sacrificed animal.Other sources suggest that the men attending the ceremony wrapped their bodies in the skin of the sacrificed goat in order to increase their fertility.

Nowadays, cards are sent on which are drawn Cupids, pierced hearts, etc. So what does Cupid have to do with Valentine’s Day? The same work states:

“Cupid (Latin cupido, desire, love). Roman god of love identified with Eros among the Greeks. He is usually depicted as a handsome little boy with wings, blindfolded, and holding a bow and arrow.”

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fête lupercales origines saint Valentin tableau art peinture

“Lupercalia”, musée du Prado, Madrid – Crédits : Wikimedia Commons

A rite of passage and purification

The Lupercalia were also considered to be a festival of purification and passage (animal sacrifice symbolizing death, goat evoking fertility and rebirth), and would have called upon very ancient rites attributed to Evander, a legendary hero of the origins of Rome.

At the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius I wished to put an end to the Lupercalia in order to resolve political quarrels with the aristocracy. But the definitive end of the pagan celebration is rather due to the Byzantine conquest under Justinian, in the sixth century.

Lupercales fête Rome gravure histoire
Lupercales à Rome vers 1578–1610, dessin du cercle d’Adam Elsheimer – Crédits : Wikimedia Commons

What does this have to do with Valentine’s Day?

Although the connection to Lupercalia is recurring, not all historians agree on the origins of Valentine’s Day. While some make the connection with the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer and the birth of courtly love, others argue that it was the Catholic Church that transformed February 14 into a day of celebration honoring the martyr Valentine.

Still others claim that the origin of lovers’ day can be traced back to the fourteenth century in Catholic Britain. February 14 would thus have been considered in the country as the celebration of love, as it was believed that birds chose this particular day to mate.

Saints Valentine, martyrs executed on February 14

At least three saints named Valentine are believed to have been martyrs of the third and fifth centuries, all executed on February 14. Among them:

  • Valentine of Rome*: Roman priest buried on the Via Flaminia (3rd century).
  • Valentine of Terni*: monk (or priest) beheaded in Rome (3rd century).
  • Valentine of Rhaetia: itinerant Christian monk (5th century).

According to the Roman Martyrology of 1705, the first two Valentines were in fact one and the same person, presented under his two successive functions.

Saint Valentin fleurs chocolats coeur champagne fête
Crédits : Fascinadora/iStock

Conclusion

Whatever the exact origin of this feast, it is clear that it draws on ancient pagan beliefs and the catalogue of “saints” compiled by the Catholic Church and the whole of Christendom. Valentine’s Day also serves as an additional pretext for the commercial exploitation of a generally ill-informed public.

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