Valentine's Day is not a "Hallmark holiday"—it has taken a lengthy and convoluted path from 496 AD to now
It's getting close to Valentine's Day. The annual February 14 celebration of love is distinguished by sweets, greeting cards, and difficult-to-obtain meal reservations, but where did Valentine's Day come from? Why are we celebrating it? Who said we couldn't offer folks candy? What exactly does it all mean? I'll answer all of your questions and more down here.
Valentine's Day has a surprisingly extensive history
Valentine's Day is not a contemporary, Hallmark-and-Big-Candy-created event. The first Valentine’s Day was in 496 AD, when Pope Gelasius I created a feast day to celebrate the martyr date of Saint Valentine of Rome. The contemporary Valentine's Day traditions—love, poetry, and gifts—were already in place by the Middle Ages.
Saint Valentine as he really is
The real narrative of Saint Valentine has essentially been lost to the passage of time. There were supposedly three early Christians called "Valentine" who were murdered by Romans, but we don't know anything about their lives. During the Diocletianic Persecution in the early fourth century, firsthand testimonies were most likely lost.
Saint Valentine myths and legends arose over time—he was allegedly known for secretly performing Christian marriages for Roman troops. Or he was imprisoned in Rome, but while awaiting his death, he restored his jailer's daughter's sight, sending her a message that ended, "From your Valentine." These stories are most likely holiday retcons, made up at a later period to pretend it all made sense from the start. "Though the commemoration of Saint Valentine is ancient...apart from his name, nothing is known about Saint Valentine save that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14," the Catholic Church stated in 1969.
Even though we don't know much about him, you can still see a flower-adorned skull said to be Saint Valentine's in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome. Creepy!
Geoffrey Chaucer: The true originator of Valentine's Day
Prior to the 1300s, the Feast of Saint Valentine was merely another Catholic feast situated between St. Blase's Feast Day on February 3 and St. Polycarp's Feast Day on February 23. Then English poet Geoffrey Chaucer arrived and forever changed the holiday game.
Chaucer specifically connects Valentine's Day with romantic love in his Parliament of Fowls, written in 1382, assuming that this is the day birds chose their partners.
Courtly love was a major deal back then, and by 1400, Valentine's Day had become so popular that Charles VI of France recalls opulent court events on February 14 that involve eating, love song and poetry competitions, jousting, and dance. Shakespeare references Valentine's Day in Romeo and Juliet, while Edmund Spenser's The Fairy Queen, published in 1590, contains the first "Roses are red, violets are blue" rhyme. ("She bathed in crimson roses and violets, and all the loveliest flowres that grew in the forest.")
Valentine's Day in the Modern Era: Candy and Cards
Sending a heart-shaped message to your loved one was a long-established yearly ritual in England during the Victorian era. People in America were also penning love notes to each other, but it wasn't until 1847 that the holiday became commercialized. Ester Howland, the daughter of a stationary business owner, began mass-producing embossed, lacy Valentine's Day cards in 1847, establishing the present custom of using greeting card company workers' emotions to communicate our deepest feelings for one another.
Cadbury is responsible for the tradition of giving candy on Valentine's Day. For Valentine's Day in 1868, the British confectioner began offering "Fancy Boxes," a box of chocolates shaped like a heart. This apparently got popular, and heart-shaped candy boxes can be obtained for next to nothing on February 15th.
South Korea is the Valentine's Day champion
Valentine's Day is now observed all over the world, generally as a small holiday, although South Korea has the greatest interpretation of the event (at least among heterosexual couples). They celebrate twice, but single people are not forgotten. Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14th and is a day when ladies buy chocolates for their loving relationships. Men repay the favor on March 14, known as White Day. The rising popularity of these lovey-dovey holidays gave rise to "Black Day," observed on April 14, in which unmarried individuals who had not gotten sweets in the preceding two months "celebrate" by eating black noodles or gathering with friends and exclaiming, "Thank goodness I didn't marry that one."
Backlash on Valentine's Day
The sadness of Valentine’s day for single people is obvious—just look at Ralph Wiggum—but there’s a more serious aspect to anti-Valentine’s day attitude. The festival has been outlawed in Pakistan and Indonesia, and it has become a cultural flashpoint in Iran.
Throughout the 2000s, Valentine's Day rose in popularity in Iran, particularly among young people, causing a reaction among Iranian conservatives. In 2011, authorities began limiting Valentine's Day festivities and prohibiting the sale of Valentine's-related merchandise, citing the spread of "decadent" Western culture into Iran. According to reports, young people still get together on Valentine's Day, but without red boxes and other apparent Valentine-ness.
#ValentinesDay #February14 #SaintValentine #Valentine
SOURCE: lifehacker
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