Valentine's Day
by Mary Pier (Feb. '01)
I remember staring into the deep blue eyes of *Matthew, my first valentine, and swooning. What can I say? I was in kindergarten and in love; in fact, I was married! Matthew was my best friend back in those days. We spent every waking hour that we could together, so it was no surprise that we were together the weekend before Valentine’s Day. We had both cajoled our parents to let Matthew come over for a Saturday evening to play at my house. One activity that we sat down to do together was to finish writing our valentines for our kindergarten class. This was the time period where you gave valentines to everyone in your class and they came in those boxes with different themes like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, GI Joe, Barbie, and so on. Instead of filling out our valentine cards to everyone in our class, we wrote out all of out cards to each other. Aww.
That was my first Valentine’s Day memory and it has yet to be topped. But one might wonder where such traditions as card, flower, and gift giving on Valentine’s Day came from. One might also be surprised to find that the starting of these traditions was implemented by the Church.
Back in Roman times, February 15th was the date for the celebration of Lupercalia. This was a festival of eroticism that honored Juno Februata, the goddess of “feverish” love. Men and woman would pull names out of a hat to be paired for the festivities of sexual game playing. This “feast of flesh” was obviously a great no-no in the early Church at that time. The Church tried many angles to alter the sinful feast into a “ritual of romance.” One angle they took was to adopt St. Valentine as a spiritual role model and to change the date from the 15th to the 14th, which is St. Valentine’s feast day. St. Valentine was a priest in the third century, and according legend, ignored Emperor Claudius’ decree that no more marriages were to take place. Claudius had forbidden marriages because he believed that they cut down on his potential crop of soldiers. Valentine, viewing this as unjust, continued to marry people, and was caught in the act and sentenced to death. It is said that a girl, whom Valentine had healed of blindness fell madly in love with him and visited him every night in prison. Before his execution on February 14th, he sent a note to the girl and signed it “From your Valentine.”
From that point on, all of the eroticism and sexual game playing of “Valentine’s Day” was thrown out. Men and women then drew names to find their “valentine,” who they would exchange gifts with. Eventually the tradition changed so that just men gave the gifts, and instead of drawing names they selected their own valentine. The tradition and importance of the holiday took off from there. Valentine’s Day grew in popularity throughout the centuries. Purchasing Valentine’s Day cards became the most popular way to declare your love in the eighteenth century and the tradition of candy and flowers emerged later in the nineteenth. So this Valentine’s Day, when you receive a box of chocolates from your valentine, or are asking someone to be your valentine, remember that this was all made possible by the Church.
* name changed
