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

Covid-19 Vaccines- Your Options

CDC recommends people not get J&J vaccine if Pfizer, Moderna are available. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed off on language that says the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are the "preferred" options over Johnson & Johnson's. People shouldn’t get the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine when the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots are available, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. The recommendation, from CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, came hours after members of the agency's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted in favor of the guidance. The panel convened following an update from the Food and Drug Administration on the risk of rare but potentially life-threatening blood clots linked to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.  At least 54 people in the U.S., most of them women, have been hospitalized by the blood clots, and nine people have died. "Today’s updated recommendation emphasizes CDC’s commitm...
Post a Comment
Read more

In The Spotlight

Naomi Campbell holds baby daughter on cover of British Vogue. Supermodel Naomi Campbell is on the cover of the March 2022 issue of British Vogue holding her 9-month-old daughter. She also opens up on her drive as a young model in the industry. “We never said we were tired,” she says. Naomi announced becoming a mother on Instagram in May 2021, with a post of her daughter’s perfect, deliciously tiny feet in the palm of her manicured hand. Exact details around her arrival are unknown. When asked if she would elaborate, all she will confirm is, “She wasn’t adopted – she’s my child.” She is saving the rest of the details for her book, which she is yet to begin. She has also decided to keep her daughter’s name private. In fact, very few people even knew that she was planning parenthood: "I can count on one hand the number of people who knew that I was having her,” she admits. “But she is the biggest blessing I could ever imagine. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”
Post a Comment
Read more

In A Random Attack, A Woman Is Lit On Fire On A Toronto bus; Man Apprehended, Police Say

Dundas, Kipling Centre. A woman lays in the hospital with critical injuries, she was set ablaze on a Toronto bus in what police say was a "random" attack.  The woman in her 20's was attacked by a 35-year-old man. The woman remains in hospital with life-altering injuries, most of which are second and third-degree burns, media relations officer Toronto police Const. Alex Li told reporters outside Kipling station, where the incident took place. The suspect has been arrested with charges pending, police say. Toronto police were called to the Kipling Avenue and Dundas Street West area around 12:30 p.m. for reports of a woman being assaulted. Police say a man poured a liquid substance on the woman and ignited it, causing a fire. The woman was rushed to Sunnybrook Hospital. There's no word on her current condition. It's unknown what motivated the attack, but Li says there was some sort of interaction between the man and woman before it happened. Police continue to invest...
2 comments
Read more