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Over time, February 14 has become the date for exchanging love messages and a celebration of St.Valentine, the patron saint of lovers. The date is marked by sending poems and simple gifts, such as flowers, to loved ones and secret loves. By far, Valentine’s Day Flowers are the most popular gift today.
In the United States, Miss Esther Howland is given credit for sending the first Valentine cards. Commercial Valentines were introduced in the 1800’s and now the date is very commercialised. The town of Loveland, Colorado, does a large post office business around February 14. The spirit of good continues as Valentines are sethemout with sentimental verses and children exchange Valentines cards at school too.
Valentine’s Day started in the time of the Roman Empire in ancient Rome, February 14 was a holiday to honour Juno. Juno was the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the Goddess of women and marriage. The following day, February 25, begin the Feast of Luperealia.
The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. However, one of the customs of the young people was name drawing. On the eve of the festival of Luperealia, the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl’s name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose.
Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and then, they would fall in love and later marry.
Under the rule of Emperor Claudius ll, Roman was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having a different time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that Roman men did not want to leave their loves or families.
As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. The good Saint Valentine was a priest at Rome in the days of Claudius ll. He and Saint Marius asked the Christians martyrs and secretly married couples, and for this kind deed Saint Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February, about the year 270.
The pastors of the early Christian Church in Rome endeavored to do away with the pegan element in those feasts by substituting the names of saints for those of maidens.
And as the Luperealia began about middle of February, the pastors appeared to have chosen Saint Valentine’s Day for the celebration of the new feast. So, it is believed that the custom of young men choosing maidens for Valentines, or saints as patrons for the coming year, arose in this way.
