Another friend of mine, we is from Finland, told me that in his country, Valentine's Day is called Friends' Day. So I got interested in looking into the origins of St Valentine's Day.
St Valentine's Day began as a liturgical celebration of an early Christian saint named Valentinus. Valentinus of Rome was martyred about 496 in Rome. He was said to have performed weddings for Roman soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for helping persecuted Christians. According to legend, he healed the daughter of his gaoler and sent her a letter signed, 'Your Valentine' before his martyrdom.There is another St Valentine - Valentine of Terni (about 100 km from Rome), who was martyred about 197 during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian.
The Day was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the Middle Ages. Chaucer wrote in his Parlement of Foules (1382):
For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.
This poem marks the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia. Though Chaucer depicts Valentine's Day as an old tradition, it is more likely that it is Chaucer's invention posing as historical fact.
The earliest surviving valentines in English is in the Paston Letters, written in 1477 by Margery Brewes to her future husband John Paston. She calls him 'my right well-beloved Valentine.' Shakespeare also mentions Valentine's Day in Hamlet (1600-1601). Ophelia mourns,
To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
And dupp'd the chamber-door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.
In 18th century England, it started taking the shape of what we know as Valentine's Day today: lovers would express their love for each other by presenting flowers, giving valentine's cards, and offering confectionery.
The legend of St Valentine is recorded in a fifth or sixth century work called Passio Marii et Marthae. The legend can also be found in the 8th century Bede's Martyrology and the 13th century Legenda Aurea. John Foxe also recorded that the gaoler's daughter planted a pink-blossomed almond tree near St Valentine's grave.
The supposed ban on soldiers' marriage is not historically accurate. In fact, Emperor Claudius II told his soldiers to take two or three women after his victory over the Goths. St Valentine is said to have cut hearts from parchment and given them to soldiers and persecuted Christians. St Valentine is also said to have worn a purple amethyst ring with an image of Cupid engraved on it. Roman soldiers would recognise the ring and ask him to perform marriage for them.
I will end this article with a meme.
Roses are red, bruises are blue.
Beaten with clubs, you celebrate my rue.
