Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day may be linked with romance, but it doesn't precisely describe how the holiday came to be. Here is some information about Valentine's Day's history that you might not be aware of, along with the date of Valentine's Day in 2023 so you can make plans.

Whatever your feelings on Valentine's Day, one thing is certain: the holiday has a long history. And while though Valentine's Day is today associated with kissing, giving gifts, and difficult-to-get dinner reservations, its beginnings are far less romantic. Here is the Valentine's Day history that wouldn't work as a romantic comedy, complete with a saint, a bloodbath, and even some depraved nuns (really!).

When is Valentine’s Day?

First, a short reminder that February 14 is always the date of Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day 2022 also fell on a Monday; Valentine's Day 2023 is on Monday, February 14. (For anyone wishing to make significant preparations, Valentine's Day will fall on February 14, 2024.)

February 14 has been a holiday since Pope Gelasius proclaimed it Saint Valentine's Day at the end of the fifth century, but it was often more ecclesiastical than amorous.

How did Valentine’s Day start?

Valentine's Day is a set day on the calendar that was combined with Lupercalia, a mid-February celebration on the ancient Roman calendar, which some historians say is how Valentine's Day came to be associated with love. A rite in which men and women were coupled off by selecting names from a jar may have been part of the fertility celebration known as Lupercalia. The union of the deity Zeus and the goddess Hera was celebrated in the middle of winter in ancient Greece.

Why is Valentine's Day celebrated on February 14th?

Generally speaking, early Christians chose to observe holidays on dates that were close to other festivals and festivities (such as Christmas and the winter solstice), hence they chose to observe Valentine's Day on February 14 and Lupercalia on February 15.

Who was Saint Valentine?

It turns out, not much. Around 500 AD, the Catholic Church added St. Valentine's Day as a feast day to its liturgical calendar. You got it—Valentine—named martyred saints were honoured on this day. Three separate saints named Valentine or Valentinus are commemorated in various traditions, but because so little is known about them and because the St. Valentine's Day tale has been reported in numerous ways, the feast day was dropped from the Christian liturgical calendar in 1969.

Even virtually little is known about the actual lives of the Saint Valentines who served as the inspiration for the celebration, the Saint Valentine tale has been told several times. According to a tale, Saint Valentine was put to death by Roman Emperor Claudius II because he refused to accept paganism. His jailer's daughter was miraculously healed before he was put to death, and both she and the whole of his family afterwards embraced Christianity. According to a different tradition, the feast is really named for a bishop by the name of Saint Valentine of Terni, who was also put to death.

Others, however, claim that Saint Valentine was a Roman priest who officiated weddings for soldiers who were forbidden from getting married because a Roman emperor's decree stated that married soldiers did not make good warriors and thus young men could not get married. This is how Saint Valentine came to be associated with a love-centered holiday. A Cupid-adorned ring that this Saint Valentine wore—a symbol of love—helped troops identify him. He also distributed paper hearts to remind Christians of their love for God in an early form of greeting cards.

Saint Valentine gained notoriety as the patron saint of love as a result of this myth. In the Saint Valentine prayer, it is requested that Saint Valentine bring together lovers so that they may unite as one and remember their devotion to God.

While Geoffrey Chaucer's poem, published in 1381, is regarded by historians as the source of the "modern" celebration of Valentine's Day, where we honour our romantic relationships with one another, Saint Valentine's Day's origin story laid the foundation for the day's establishment as a holiday for romantic love.

Why do we celebrate Valentine’s Day?

Chaucer lived in the Middle Ages, a time of courtly love when poetry, music, and paintings honoured a couple's union in sweeping, lyrical declarations of adoration. The term "valentine" was first used to refer to a lover in poetry and music towards the end of the 15th century, and an English book titled The Young Man's Valentine Writer was produced in the 18th century. Valentine's Day as we know it now began in the middle of the 19th century when mass-produced paper Valentine's Cards were invented (but DIY Valentine card ideas are still worthwhile to try).

The reality about Valentine's Day's past is that tragedies have still happened on this day of romance. On February 14, 1929, seven men were murdered in Chicago during Prohibition by a group commanded by Al Capone. With police and politicians going after the gangs and mobs that had formed in cities to control then-illegal substances like alcohol, the Valentine's Day Massacre constituted a turning point in Prohibition history.

What is the meaning of Valentine’s Day?

The reality about Valentine's Day's past is that tragedies have still happened on this day of romance. On February 14, 1929, seven men were murdered in Chicago during Prohibition by a group commanded by Al Capone. With police and politicians going after the gangs and mobs that had formed in cities to control then-illegal substances like alcohol, the Valentine's Day Massacre constituted a turning point in Prohibition history.