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History of Valentine’s Day –
Like all ancient holidays, St. Valentine’s Day is shrouded in a trail of obscure and sometimes contradictory legends. All of them agree on only one thing – the origins of this wonderful holiday should be sought in the history of the ancient Roman Empire.
The specific “culprit” of the holiday is the Christian priest Valentine. According to some sources, he was a simple Christian priest, other legends elevate him to the rank of bishop. It is said that he lived in the 3rd century AD, in the Roman city of Terni. This story dates back to about 269, at that time Emperor Claudius II ruled the Roman Empire. The warring Roman army experienced an acute shortage of soldiers for military campaigns, and the commander was convinced that the main enemy of his “Napoleonic” plans were marriages, because a married legionnaire thinks much less about the glory of the empire than about how to feed his family. And, in order to preserve the military spirit in his soldiers, the emperor issued a decree forbidding the legionnaires to marry.
Not afraid of the imperial wrath, the young Christian priest Valentine continued to secretly marry legionnaires in love, reconcile those who quarreled, write love letters for tongue-tied and stupid warriors, and give flowers to married couples. There was no way to keep all this secret, and Valentine was taken into custody, and soon a decree was signed on his execution.
According to one version, in the last days of Valentine’s life, the jailer’s blind daughter fell in love with him. Valentine, as a priest who had taken a vow of celibacy, could not respond to her feelings, but on the night before the execution (February 13) he sent her a touching letter and signed: “Your Valentine.” From here – and postcards “valentines”. According to another version, Valentine himself fell in love with a beautiful girl.
There is another legend that in fact there were two Saint Valentines. It says that in those distant times in the Roman Empire there lived a young man named Saint Valentine. He loved children very much and always spent a lot of time with them. The children also idolized him. They lived together, joyfully and happily. But when the Roman Emperor found out that Saint Valentine did not worship those gods that, on his orders, it was customary to worship in this country, he was imprisoned. The children were very bored without their older friend, often came to the prison, brought him notes with confessions of respect, about love and longing. But nothing saved Saint Valentine. Presumably, he was also executed on February 14 in 269 or 270 BC.
Their deeds have long become a legend, and now no one remembers exactly which of them the holiday was dedicated to. One thing is certain – a young Christian priest died in the name of Love
According to pagan traditions, Valentine’s Day has existed for more than 18 centuries. According to one version, this holiday goes back to the Roman holiday Lupercalia – a festival of eroticism in honor of the goddess of “feverish” love Juno Februata. Everyone left what they were doing and the fun began. The holiday was overgrown with rituals. The purpose of the holiday was to find your soul mate and, as a result, after the celebration of the holiday, a large number of families were created. According to other sources, the festival of Lupercalia was held in honor of the god Faun (Luperk is one of his nicknames), the patron saint of flocks, which was celebrated annually on February 15th. And it was a celebration of abundance. The day before Lupercalia, the feast of the Roman goddess of marriage, motherhood and women, Juno and the god Pan, was celebrated. On this day, girls wrote love letters. The letters were placed in a huge urn, and then the men pulled the letters.
In ancient Greece, this holiday was called Panurgy – ritual games in honor of the god Pan (in the Roman tradition – Faun) – the patron saint of herds, forests, fields and their fertility. Pan is a merry fellow and a rake, plays the flute beautifully and always pursues the nymphs with his love. According to some sources, Valentine’s Day was once called the “Bird’s Wedding”. Previously, it was believed that birds form mating pairs precisely in the second week of the second month of the year.
Court chronicler of the English court Samuel Pepys at the end of the 17th century. made a note that on February 14, lovers can exchange souvenirs: gloves, rings and sweets. It just so happened that a gift for Valentine’s Day must necessarily include some kind of heart-shaped sweets: cake, sweets, cookies, cakes, chocolate. On this day, lovers also give each other valentine cards.
Most of the “valentines” are anonymous, have no return address, are written from right to left or left hand. So it is accepted – it adds mystery. True, the recipients are then forced to look for an anonymous messenger if they believe in fate.
The creation of the first valentine is attributed not only to Saint Valentine, but also to the Duke of Orleans (1415), imprisoned in the Tower for some conspiracy forgotten by history. He was in prison, in solitary confinement, and decided to fight boredom by writing love letters to his wife. On February 14, 1415, he composed the longest and most beautiful poem and provided income for all the printing houses of the world until the end of the century.
Valentines reached their greatest flourishing by the eighteenth century. Now, “valentine” refers to greeting cards in the form of hearts with best wishes, declarations of love, marriage proposals, or just jokes that are not signed, and the recipient must guess who they are from. In addition to them, people give their loved ones roses (because they are considered to symbolize love), heart candies and other objects with images of hearts, kissing birds and, of course, the justly recognized symbol of Valentine’s Day – the little winged angel Cupid.
Heart – people once believed that feelings such as love, luck, anger, or fear reside in the heart; later they began to believe that only the feeling of love is in the heart. So the heart in our time is a symbol of love and Valentine’s Day.
The red rose is the favorite flower of Venus, the goddess of love. Red is the color of strong feelings. That is why the red rose is the flower of love. The first roses were grown in Asia about 5,000 years ago. Wild roses are even older – the first of them appeared about 35 million years ago. With at least 3 million roses sold on Valentine’s Day alone, this flower seems to have stood the test of time.
In ancient times, the rose was considered a divine flower. The goddess Flora once saw a beautiful girl and turned her into a flower; Aphrodite added beauty to the flower; three graces – brilliance and charm. Dionysus donated fragrant nectar, Zephyr fanned the clouds so that Apollo could water the rose in the sun. When the flower grew, it was given to Eros – the god of love – and named the “Queen of Flowers”.
The Romans had their own legend about the origin of the rose. According to her, many suitors were eager to marry a beautiful girl named Rodanthe, but she was not interested in any of them. These people were so full of love and desire, they were so angry with her indifference that they broke into her house by breaking down the door. This episode outraged the goddess Diana. As a punishment, she turned the beauty into a flower, and her admirers into thorns.
Whatever the origin of the rose, it is undeniably a symbol of beauty and love. It is well known that the meaning of red roses is “I love you”. A combined bouquet of red and white roses means unity and friendship, pink – grace and elegance, yellow – joy, orange or coral – desire, a bouquet of burgundy roses compliments the beauty of your beloved, white roses mean “you are divine”, but white rose buds mean “You’re too young for love.”
If you want to stray from tradition, or if “I love you” isn’t what comes to mind when you think about the person you want to give flowers to, don’t give roses. After all, different flowers have so many meanings! Red chrysanthemums, tulips and carnations, as well as roses, mean love. Daisy sings of the beauty of your beloved. Gardenia means unspoken love, violets – affection. Narcissus means selfishness, and cactus means cordiality.
Lace – Hundreds of years ago, women wore lace handkerchiefs. If the lady dropped her handkerchief, the man next to her had to pick up the handkerchief and return it to the woman. Sometimes a lady dropped a lace scarf on purpose in order to get to know the man she liked. Soon lace became fully associated with romance. This is why lace wrapping paper is often used to wrap Valentine’s Day gifts these days.
Gloves – once, if a man wanted to marry a woman, he “asked for her hand.” The hand has become a symbol of love and marriage. Gloves soon also became a symbol of marriage.
Rings – In most countries, people exchange rings during engagements and weddings. Two or three centuries ago, on Valentine’s Day, it was very popular to arrange engagements.
Love birds and doves are colorful parrots native to Africa. Most of them have red beaks. They are called love birds because when they pair up, they sit at a very close distance from each other. Pigeons are considered the favorite birds of Venus. They do not change a couple all their lives and take care of the chicks together. These birds are symbols of fidelity and love, as well as symbols of Valentine’s Day.
Cupid is the son of Venus, goddess of love. He can make a person fall in love with one of his magical arrows. Cupid is the most famous symbol of Valentine’s Day. This is a mischievous angel with a bow and arrows. Those people and gods who are hit by Cupid’s arrow fall in love. In ancient Greece, the analogue of Cupid was the young son of the goddess Aphrodite Eros. The Romans called him Cupid, and Venus was considered his mother. One legend tells the story of Cupid and the maiden Psyche. Venus did not like the unearthly beauty of Psyche and she ordered Cupid to punish Psyche, but instead Cupid fell in love with Psyche and made her his wife. But since people are not allowed to look at the gods, Psyche did not know what her husband looked like. Psyche was happy until her sisters persuaded the girl to look at Cupid. Cupid punished Psyche: he left the girl, and with it disappeared the beautiful castle in which they lived, and the gardens. Psyche was left alone. To find her lover, she went to the temple of Venus. To destroy Psyche, Venus gave her several impossible tasks, one more difficult than the other. Her last task was to deliver the box to the underworld. Psyche needed to get a part of the beauty of Pluto’s wife, and put it in a box. During the journey, Psyche was on the verge of death more than once. She was warned not to open the box under any circumstances. But curiosity won over caution, and Psyche opened the box. But instead of the promised beauty in the box was a dead dream. Cupid found her lifeless on the ground. He removed the dead dream from her. Cupid forgave her, and the gods, admiring the power of Psyche’s love, made Psyche a goddess. To find her lover, she went to the temple of Venus. To destroy Psyche, Venus gave her several impossible tasks, one more difficult than the other. Her last task was to deliver the box to the underworld. Psyche needed to get a part of the beauty of Pluto’s wife, and put it in a box. During the journey, Psyche was on the verge of death more than once. She was warned not to open the box under any circumstances. But curiosity won over caution, and Psyche opened the box. But instead of the promised beauty in the box was a dead dream. Cupid found her lifeless on the ground. He removed the dead dream from her. Cupid forgave her, and the gods, admiring the power of Psyche’s love, made Psyche a goddess. To find her lover, she went to the temple of Venus. To destroy Psyche, Venus gave her several impossible tasks, one more difficult than the other. Her last task was to deliver the box to the underworld. Psyche needed to get a part of the beauty of Pluto’s wife, and put it in a box. During the journey, Psyche was on the verge of death more than once. She was warned not to open the box under any circumstances. But curiosity won over caution, and Psyche opened the box. But instead of the promised beauty in the box was a dead dream. Cupid found her lifeless on the ground. He removed the dead dream from her. Cupid forgave her, and the gods, admiring the power of Psyche’s love, made Psyche a goddess. Her last task was to deliver the box to the underworld. Psyche needed to get a part of the beauty of Pluto’s wife, and put it in a box. During the journey, Psyche was on the verge of death more than once. She was warned not to open the box under any circumstances. But curiosity won over caution, and Psyche opened the box. But instead of the promised beauty in the box was a dead dream. Cupid found her lifeless on the ground. He removed the dead dream from her. Cupid forgave her, and the gods, admiring the power of Psyche’s love, made Psyche a goddess. Her last task was to deliver the box to the underworld. Psyche needed to get a part of the beauty of Pluto’s wife, and put it in a box. During the journey, Psyche was on the verge of death more than once. She was warned not to open the box under any circumstances. But curiosity won over caution, and Psyche opened the box. But instead of the promised beauty in the box was a dead dream. Cupid found her lifeless on the ground. He removed the dead dream from her. Cupid forgave her, and the gods, admiring the power of Psyche’s love, made Psyche a goddess. But instead of the promised beauty in the box was a dead dream. Cupid found her lifeless on the ground. He removed the dead dream from her. Cupid forgave her, and the gods, admiring the power of Psyche’s love, made Psyche a goddess. But instead of the promised beauty in the box was a dead dream. Cupid found her lifeless on the ground. He removed the dead dream from her. Cupid forgave her, and the gods, admiring the power of Psyche’s love, made Psyche a goddess.
May this holiday be with you not only on Valentine’s Day, but every day. This is what Saint Valentine teaches us, who died in the name of love more than six centuries ago.
credit: pixabay.com
