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History
and Legends of Valentines Day www.planetcinta.com
By Joanne Elliott When you
think of Valentines Day, what springs to mind? Red roses? Beautiful
greetings cards? Extortionately priced gifts (if we re lucky)?! But have
you ever wondered where the tradition of Valentines Day actually came from
in the first place? If you want to find out, read on...
Would you believe that there is historical evidence that can trace
the history of Valentines Day back to Pagan times? The Romans were first
valentines, even though they didn t name it as such. In ancient Rome,
February 14th was a special day. The ancient Greeks held celebrations in
honor of Juno, the Goddess of Woman and Marriage, and Queen of the Roman
Gods and Goddesses. (That is some workload, isn t it?!) The celebration
began on February 15th with the feast of Lupercalia. Love lotteries were
held on the eve of the festival where girls names were written on paper, and the men all drew partners
from jar for the festival duration.
There is proof that a man named St Valentine, or Vantinus, actually
existed. And it is quite a romantic story! St Valentine was apparently a
chaste man, but legend has it that he defied Emperor Claudius II by
breaking the law and secretly marrying countless couples. (The Emperor had
banned all marriage because he believed that these sorts of unions were
weakening his army what a sad
man he must have been!). It is said that the Emperor Claudius found out
about Valentine s actions, and had him beaten to death. Valentine was
martyred on February 14th, 269AD.
Another legend from the same period of time reads that Valentine
befriended his jailors daughter during imprisonment. And his farewell
letter read (you ve guessed
it ) From your Valentine
In 496 AD pope Gelasius set February 14th as a day to honor St
Valentine, and decreed him the Patron Saint of Lovers. Even then, it
happened that February 14th gradually became a day for exchanging love
messages and simple gifts to partners or prospective lovers.
The early Christians frowned upon the whole idea of Valentines Day.
Of course, at that time the focus was really rather erotic rather than
sentimental. The Church tried to swap the tradition of the Romans by
making up a new sort of game
where names of saints were given to would-be lovers. This did not
go down very well, especially as it was expected that the individual would
emulate the chosen patron saints virtues
for the entire year! In the end, the Church came to a compromise, and
settled on a romantic focus, rather than blatant eroticism!
Manufactured Valentines cards did not appear until the end of the 18th
Century. And the Victorians were to thank for this. They really went to
town with elaborate lace trims, silk, and satin. Cards were also
individually decorated with embellished flowers, feathers, gold leaf,
hand-painted details, and sweetly scented sachets. Why not try making your
own Valentines cards in a Victorian style? It sounds like great fun to
me...!
Until the mid 1800 s it cost too much to send Valentines cards in
the mail. And would you believe that at this point in time it was the
recipient, not the sender, who was expected to pay! (Can you imagine how
much it would cost us all in spam e-mails these days? Perish the thought!)
It was only in the advent of the penny post that modern Valentines
custom got so big. The industry is still expanding rapidly, and is the
second most popular greetings card occasion; second only to Christmas.
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