Every February 14th, people exchange chocolates, flowers, candy, and other gifts to the people they love. Over the years Valentine’s Day has slowly moved away from the religious ideas that it is believed it originated with. In the United States, it has become more focused on relationships, friendships, and love. There are quite a few different opinions on this holiday, some think that it’s a great day to show how much you love your family and/or partner. Others believe that this day is blown way out of proportion and just puts pressure on people to get into a relationship, not to mention spend way too much money on gifts. No matter the opinions, many people forget and pay no mind to how this holiday came to be.
While the common belief is that Valentine’s day is the anniversary of St Valentine’s death, many people believe the Catholic Church chose to have a holiday on this day to “Christianize” the Pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Unlike Valentine’s Day, Lupercalia was bloody, violent, and quite sexual. According to history.com Lupercalia is the celebration of the Roman fertility god, Lupercus, and started much earlier than St Valentine. In fact, it has been traced all that way back to 6th century B.C. The celebration consisted of animal sacrifice, feasting, and most importantly men running around semi-naked whipping women with goatskin in order for the women to receive the fertility consecration. Nobody really knows the logic behind this one. Over time the festival of Lupercalia became less and less popular as the Catholic holiday started to catch on.
Many people credit this holiday to the Catholic saint, Saint Valentine. One of the most common heard stories for why Saint Valentine is honored states that Saint Valentine would marry young lovers in secret after marriage was declared illegal by Emperor Claudius II. When Valentine was discovered he was sent to death. There are a variety of stories pertaining to the history of Saint Valentine but they all emphasize the point that he was quite a romantic figure. By the middle ages, Saint Valentine was one of the most popular saints throughout England and France.
Eventually, Valentine’s Day made its way to America and became the holiday we know today. Valentine’s Day now capitalizes on sharing feelings of love whether it be for your family or for a significant other by encouraging people to spend money. In fact, the over-commercialization of this holiday has led it to become known as another “Hallmark Holiday”. Companies like Hershey’s, Hallmark, and Flowers.com have successfully advertised their way into the pockets of all kinds of people, bringing in around two billion dollars every year, 25% of that revenue coming from Valentine's Day sales alone.
People celebrate this day in a variety of ways, whether it be breaking the bank on jewelry and chocolates for their loved ones or making a nice dinner reservation and time for a self-care night. Hey, some might even be spending their valentines day the way the Pagans did, but whatever you did we want to know. Leave how you celebrated this Valentine’s Day in the comments below!
Ruby Lenertz