The history of Valentine's Day

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- Ever year on February 14 husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, honor there love for each other. This day does not only honor relationships concerning marriage or commitment. It also commemorates the love people have for one another including mother and daughter, brother and sister. However, the history behind Valentines Day is filled with mystery and romance.

The history of Valentines Day goes back to ancient Roman and Christian tradition. The Catholic Church gives three theories to the history of Valentines Day. Each involving some type of saint.

One theory is of a priest named Valentine who lived during the 3rd century rein of Emperor Claudius II. Claudius decided that the best soldiers were single men, so he banned the marriage of younger men. Valentine thought this wrong and continued to perform marriages and defied Claudius. When Claudius found out, he sentenced Valentine to death. However, he may have been killed for helping Christians escape torture prisons.

One legend is that Valentine sent the first Valentines card from prison to a girl, supposedly his jailor’s daughter, who he fell in love with. Right before his death, he sent a letter that was signed from your valentine. The same signature we still use today. St. Valentine became the most popular saint by the middle ages.

Another idea is not the regular theory: celebrating Valentines Day in February because that was the death of St. Valentines, but because of the annual Roman Catholic Lubercalia festival. Since February is the Roman time for purification, Lubercalia is a fertility festival dedicated to the founders of Rome: Remus and Romulus. At the beginning of the festival, a goat and a dog are sacrificed in front of the cave of which Remus and Romulus were born and raised by a wolf. The goat’s hind legs are then cut and stripped and the blood is wiped on the women of Rome as a sort of fertility ritual. Then the men would choose their wives from picking their names. In the end Pope Gelasius declared Feb 14 the holiday for Valentines Day in 498 A.D. Even though the ritual was deemed un-Christianized later, people still believed that February was the right month for the holiday.

As the years go by, Valentines Day just grows as technology grows. Soon because of the better printing technology, Valentines cards boomed and now around billions of cards are sent every year.

With all this history it shows that Valentines Day is not just one day celebrated by one nation, race, or culture. It is a day to recognize your loved ones.