14 February 2023 , 08:00
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This February 14, many loved-up couples will once again be exchanging flowers, chocolates, and various gushing declarations of affection. Valentine's Day hasn't always been so sweet, however. In fact, it has rather dark and bloody origins rooted in both Christianity and Roman history.
February is a month that's long been associated with romance. Many centuries before the first rom-com, the ancient Romans would celebrate the annual fertility festival of Lupercalia, a time to welcome Spring, and give thanks to the Roman fertility god Lupercus.
The feast day was held on February 15, and, as part of the celebrations, boys would be called upon to draw girls' names from a box. Whoever they picked would be their partner for the duration of the festival, a temporary binding from which marriages would often blossom.
Pope Gelasius replaced Lupercalia with the feast of St Valentine in the fifth century AD (Getty Images)How did Valentine's Day come to be?
The festival also included a sacrificial ritual involving a goat and a dog, whereby a corporation of priests known as the Luperci would cut pieces of skin from the sacrificed animals, placing these against their own foreheads. They would then touch the removed skin against every woman in attendance, with the hopes of encouraging conception and easier childbirths.
Although Lupercalia was still practiced even after the rise of Christianity in Rome, Pope Gelasius eventually outlawed it in the fifth century AD, fearing it would lead to people reverting back to paganism.
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Pope Gelasius was aware that he would need to replace the feast day with something more Christian, and so decided that February 14 would be a day to celebrate St Valentine. Interestingly, it's still disputed as to whether or not there were one or two St Valentines, or perhaps even more.
Geoffrey Chaucer is widely credited with having made the connection between Valentine's Day and romance (Popperfoto/Getty Images)
The most famous St Valentine was tortured and executed for permitting illegal marriages (Universal Images Group via Getty Images)Who was St Valentine?
Valentine was a popular name between the second and eighth centuries AD, and so there are several martyrs with this name, as well as a Pope Valentine.
The most famous Valentine was St Valentine of Rome, a third-century Roman priest who, according to legend, performed secret weddings between soldiers and their sweethearts against the strict orders of the authorities.
It was believed at the time that soldiers were better off unmarried when heading off to fight, as they would be more willing to risk their lives. St Valentine vehemently disagreed with this and was eventually captured and imprisoned in the home of a nobleman.
During his imprisonment, he allegedly performed a miracle by giving his captor's blind daughter, who he had fallen in love with, back her sight, converting the household to Christianity by doing so.
He was eventually tortured and decapitated on February 14, around 269 AD. Before his gruesome death, however, he was able to send the captor's daughter a heartbreaking final letter signed 'Your Valentine'.
When did the day become associated with romance?
The English writer and poet Geoffrey Chaucer is widely credited as having first established a link between Valentine's Day and romance, according to History.com.
In 1375, Chaucer penned a poem named 'Parliament of Foules', in which he hailed February 14 as the day when birds found their mating partner, writing, 'For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate'.
Valentine's Day surged in popularity in the early 19th century, with the Victorians kicking off the tradition of signing cards anonymously. In 1913, Hallmark Cards began producing Valentine's Day cards on a mass scale, after which the holiday really began to resemble the day of romance we know and love today.
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