History Of Valentine
Understanding the History of Valentine
The article is all about the romantic holiday and liturgical celebration. For Brazil's corresponding celebration, see Dia dos Namorados. For uses of Valentine, see Valentine. For other uses, see Valentine's Day (disambiguation)."St. Valentine's Day" redirects here. For the Bing Crosby album, see St. Valentine's Day (album).
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine,[1] is celebrated annually on February 14. Originating as a Western Christian feast day honoring one or two early saints named Valentinus, Valentine's Day is recognized as a significant cultural, religious, and commercial celebration of romance and romantic love in many regions around the world, although it is not a public holiday in any country.
History of Valentines: The History of Valentine in a Nutshell.
Every 14th of February, millions of people buy cards, chocolates, and roses in order to express love. What stands behind this commercial exhibit, though, are a rich history of Roman pagan celebrations, early Christian martyrs, mediaeval poetry and Victorian marketing. The history of the development of Valentine's Day can reveal how cultural practices change with time, adding several layers of meaning that conceal and add depth to its origins. Instead of a straight line, the history of the holiday is a palimpsest: every period recreates and maintains some of the history.
Roman myths: Lupercali and fertility rites.
Valentine has the most ancient origins in Lupercalia, which was celebrated in Rome between February 13 and 15. The rite of noisy fertility was a worship of Lupercus, who was the protector of flocks, and Faunus, who was the god of agriculture. The priests of Lupercus attended a cave of the shepherd boys, Romulus and Remus; there they sacrificed goats and dogs and cut the skin into strips.
The most important part of the rite was the blood-stained strips. Luperci used them to beat women running through the streets of Rome, which was believed to help in fertility and childbearing. Women queued up to receive this treatment in the hope that they would conceive. A lottery followed: women put their names in an urn, and bachelors selected mates for the festival – sometimes resulting in lifetime marriages.
The rite was off-putting to Christian authorities. Its savage nature, nudity and sexual lottery went against the new Christian morals. However, Lupercalia survived until the fifth century, demonstrating that culture is not something that can be removed by mere prohibition. The strategy of the Church has never been suppression: to transform the celebration in a Christian context instead of making an effort to suppress it.
The Valentine Martyrs: The Historical Uncertainty.
The name of the saint who substituted that of Lupercalia is elusive. There were at least three Martyred Valentines whose names were recorded by the Catholic Church and who probably became one legend. One was a priest in Rome who worked under Emperor Claudius II Gothicus (268–270 CE) and was executed due to the secret marriage of Christian couples. One, the Bishop of Terni, was murdered upon the Via. One of them was reported to have helped Christians escape Roman prisons.
The romantic connection was provided by the associationism to matrimony, which, with a marriage by imperial edict, was forbidden. Claudius supposedly banned young men from getting married, believing that single soldiers were good fighters. Valentine's secret unions undermined this and paved the way to a romantic patron saint. His crucifixion on February 14, circa 269, was made on Lupercalia.
Records are scarce. The first solid evidence of a festival on February 14 is found in an English Benedictine monastery's Chronicon by Bede (8th century), four centuries after the death of Valentine. Martyrologies of the past called him Valentine without relating him to love. The love connection was likely to develop through the mediaeval folklore, which was fixed through the literary works of Geoffrey Chaucer.
Mediaeval Transformation: Courtly Love and Birds of Chaucer.
The 14th century saw the development of the holiday of love, that is, of Valentine's, as a uniquely romantic one, with the motivation of courtly love and vernacular literature. The courtship codes, worked out in high society in France and England, included secret admiration, chivalric service, and ideal feminine objects, which had to be ritualised. Lovers celebrated every year with verse and presents.
The theme of birds was invented by Chaucer in the Parliament of Fowls (1382): “So on the day of Seynt Valentyne cometh every fowl there to choose his make. Others believe that the connection was created by Chaucer; the others argue that the connection was a reflection of the folk belief. Mediaeval theorists indicate that February had pre-Christian associations with the mating season. In any case, the association of romance with the pairing of lovers was solidified by the impact of Chaucer or by his popular readership.
Being a love interest, the word 'valentine' came into existence in the period. The nobles of France and England took part in the lottery, assigning a sweetheart for the next year and verses and items. The date of the poetry contest and love adjudication was February 14, 1400, when the charter of Charles VI of France created La Cour Amoureuse. These aristocratic traditions dripped down, yet peasant festivals remained wards of the world.
The first extant one is that, in 1415, Charles, Duke of Orleans, then in the Tower of London after Agincourt, wrote to his wife: I am already tired of love, my very gentle Valentine. This demonstrates how the personal and loving Valentine was given precedence over the general ceremonies or the lottery.
Premodern Commercialisation: Printing and Postal Reform.
The transformation of the 16th-18th centuries of the era of the development of material culture and communication and the evolution of Valentine's Day took place. Love letters were written out in verse and drawings and spread among the literate inhabitants. The so-called puzzle purse, a folded paper with hidden messages, was an act of fine romantic art.
The scene was changed by mechanical reproduction. By the 1790s, British printers were selling pre-written verses of valentines to people who were not able to write their own. These mechanical Valentines broadened the playing field but were also criticised on the issue of authenticity – an issue that increased with industrial manufacturing.
The mass commercialisation really commenced in the 19th century. In the 1840s, Esther Howland, an American artist and businesswoman, became the first to commercially deal in cards but imported English lace and paper. Her workshop in Worcester, Massachusetts, used local women in assembly-line manufacturing, with an annual income of about 100,000 dollars – about 3 million dollars today. Howland demonstrated the success of the market, as competitors came and the greeting-card business became established.
Reform of the British post was no exception. Mass mailing was possible through the introduction of the uniform penny post in 1840. By 1871, the quantity of Valentines sent through the post offices had risen to 1.2 million annually. Dependable and inexpensive delivery has made visible that intimate romantic correspondence that was once private a societal spectacle, thus generating controversy over its wastefulness and false sincerity.
Victorian Extravagance and American Reconstruction.
The Victorian feasts were lavish. The versatility of the format was demonstrated by Vinegar Valentines' satirical, offensive cards and heartfelt letters. Mechanical parts of a 3D card, imported flowers, and jewellery were criticised because they created materialism that crept into true love.
In America, the festivity was no longer following British trends with new marketing. The Hall Brothers (later Hallmark) were established in 1861 and combined design, production, and retailing. At the beginning of the 20th century, Valentine's Day was second only to Christmas in the number of cards sold. Gift categories were new as Cadbury and Hershey, the leaders of the chocolate industry, came up with boxes and packaging with heart shapes. Florists advanced the use of red roses, which had their basis in the myths of Venus, as the perfect symbol of romance.
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