There is no holiday quite as polarizing as Valentine’s Day. If you are lucky enough to have that loving person in your life, then February the 14th is the time to take your partner on a date and rekindle the romance. On the other hand, the day also carries the negative moniker of Singles Awareness Day. Heck, some of us just look forward to consuming gobs of discount candy after the fact. To each their own.
So, the holiday is supposed to be about love and gooey feelings, but there is a bit of irony to that. Not only because the loneliness referred to above, but because there is a fair amount of bloodshed connected Valentine’s Day.
Roman Roots of Valentine’s Day
All good legends are shrouded in a degree of mystery, and the original story of St. Valentine is no different. For starters, The Catholic Church recognizes three different Saint Valentines, each who lived and died during the third century A.D., and are thought to be the inspiration for the holiday. The first, One Valentinus died in the company of 24 soldiers in Africa. The other two were a priest and a bishop; both performed miraculous feats and died tragically.
Later in the 5th century A.D., Pope Gelasius declared February 14 to be a holiday, likely a connection to the pagan holiday Lupercalia, a celebration that occurred on the ides of February, or February 15th. Some sources are certain that Gelasius was intent on Christianizing the pagan holiday, while others consider this circumstantial. Another historical anecdote reveals February 14 was considered the beginning of mating season for birds.
The horrors of Valentine’s Day even carries into modern American history with the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. In Prohibition Chicago 1929, Al Capone-led gang members dressed as police officers, armed themselves with sub machine guns, shotguns, and revolvers, and cornered and executed seven of George “Bugs” Moran’s men in an apparent conflict over control of the lucrative bootlegging trade. Yikes!
Literary Roots of Valentine’s Day
Things get better, however, thanks to two of English literature’s greatest writers. Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare did what great writers do and found beauty in complex histories and dark tragedies. Both men lived and wrote in different eras, but each had an important role in influencing Valentine’s Day as we know it today.
Chaucer’s poem, “A Parliament of Fowls,” is most associated with changing the perceptions of Valentine’s Day. In the poem, birds are discussing the nature and purpose of love. Of course, William Shakespeare may be the literary figure most connected to the art of writing about true love. Shakespeare references the holiday of love in both A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet. In the latter play, Shakespeare perpetuates a myth that couples who meet on Valentine's Day are destined to get married.
Did Chaucer and Shakespeare light the spark that finally made Valentine’s Day about flowers, chocolate, and romcoms? We only need to look back to the mid-18th century in England, when on the day friends and lovers of all social classes first exchanged small tokens of affection. In 1840 in America, a lady named Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines. In 1913, Hallmark began selling Valentine’s Day cards, and as they say, the rest is history!
If you are not looking forward to February 14th, you are not the only one. Even the men for whom the holiday was named had a rough go of it! If you can’t nail down that date, go out with friends. Or stay in and enjoy one glass (or two) of wine. Treat yourself. Love is around the corner, my child.
