Skip to main content

Valentine's Day-Oldest Valentine's Day Message And it's Origin

Today is Valentine's Day. Ever wondered how it all started. Worry no more as we dug through the archives for you.

However, there are varied stories on how it originated.

The Oldest Known Valentine Message Written in 1477

The name of Valentine's Day can be traced back to the observance of the feast day of Saint Valentine. There are at least two saints named Valentine, one of whom became a martyr around the year 270 CE. The name Valentine comes from a Latin word meaning “strength.”

St. Valentine, he is the patron saint of lovers, epileptics, and beekeepers. By some accounts, St. Valentine was a Roman priest and physician who suffered martyrdom during the persecution of Christians by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus about 270.

February 14, observed in honor of St. Valentine as a day for the exchange of valentines and other tokens of affection.

Another narrative according to the legend, the day is celebrated to mark the death anniversary of Saint Valentine who died in mid-February in 270 AD. It is said that Saint Valentine was a priest, who defied emperors’ orders and secretly married couples to spare husbands from war. He was reportedly beheaded by Emperor Claudius II Gothicus.

Yet another: The origin of Valentine’s can be traced back to “Lupercalia”, a Roman festival for fertility. It is also believed that the day was celebrated as an attempt by the Church to add a religious twist to the Lupercalia festival. The festival was dedicated to Faunus, the god of agriculture, and Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. During the celebrations, men and women were paired based on a lottery system, and most of them eventually ended in marriage. At the end of the fifth century, Pope Gelasius I decided the time of Lupercalia celebrations as the date to celebrate Saint Valentine.

It is also believed that Saint Valentine was able to miraculously heal the blind daughter of his jailer. Another legend says that a Bishop named Saint Valentine of Terni was the true namesake of the holiday. Although it is believed by the people that they are the same person.  Saint Valentine became known as a patron saint of love. 

It was also said that he used to wear a ring with Cupid on it – the symbol of love – that helped soldiers were able to him. A poem written by medieval author Geoffrey Chaucer in 1381 is considered the origin of the modern celebration of love by historians. It connects Saint Valentine to the celebration of love, solidifying the belief in the history of the festival.

Source:BBC.CO.UK
Image Credit:Unsplash
Wikipedia 

Comments

Post a Comment

Type your comments here

Popular posts from this blog

Professor Isah Odidi, 16 Others Appointed As Directors By The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council

  Professor Isa Odidi and His Excellency the Waziri Adamawa, Atiku Abubakar. The Peoples Democratic Party Appoints Directors And Deputy Directors To Kick-Start Campaign.                                 Professor Isah Odidi, has been appointed as Director, Diaspora Group by the Campaign Organisation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). This appointment was contain in a Press Release on Thursday, October 06, 2022 issued by the Campaign Organisation’s Director-General and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal. Professor Isah Odidi, a distinguished pharmacist, an erudite scientist,  a technocrat and tireless researcher will indeed propagate the good virtues of the great party, the PDP and its Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the Diaspora.  Professor Odidi, has always asserted that Atiku  Abubakar is a unifier and the best candidate to move the Nigerian nation forward, ushe...

Video Update - Bianca Ojukwu And Willie Obiano's Wife Saga

The Internet is buzzing, there is a media uproar, the media outlets are now giving a clearer version of what happened between the former beauty queen and wife to the late warlord, Bianca Ojukwu and the wife of the former Governor of Anambra State Ebelechukwu Willie Obiano. Fresh stories indicate that Bianca Ojukwu initiated the slap. She slapped Willie Obiano's wife and it is not the other way round as earlier reported. The moment Bianca slapped Obiano’s wife during Soludo’s inauguration happened thus. The scuffle occurred on Thursday at the inauguration of Chukwuma Soludo as governor of the state. Soludo was sworn in at the government house in Anambra. Dignitaries, including Obiano, were already seated when Ebelechukwu Obiano, Willie Obiano's wife stood up from her seat and moved to where Bianca, widow of Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, was seated and spoke to her. Although Ebelechukwu was inaudible, the video showed how Bianca rose and gave her a slap, leading to a commotion. Whichever w...

You and Your Health - Alzheimer's breakthrough'

A study from Sweden which has found that a blood test can detect the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease, reports the BBC, while expansiating on it's report that;                   Image Credit: Scientific American   The Times says it could have "huge implications" for routinely screening the over-50s for their risk of the disease. The test - the paper reports - can detect the "proteins" which can cause Alzheimer's which build up in the brain for 10 to 15 years before symptoms start to show, and allowed researchers to assess how "likely" someone was to develop the disease. According to the Daily Express, the brand new diagnostic tool has been praised by experts as it may "ultimately bring us closer towards a cure for dementia". The Daily Telegraph takes the view the "simple and cheap method" can measure how likely people are to develop the illness up to 15 years before they show symptoms, citing research from the study.