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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 

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