What is the origin of Valentine’s Day?
Valentine’s Day, celebrated on February 14, is a holiday dedicated to love and friendship. Its origins are complex and are rooted in both pagan and Christian traditions. In this article, we look at the history of Valentine’s Day and how it evolved into the holiday it is today.
Pagan roots of Valentine’s Day
The roots of Valentine’s Day go back to ancient Rome, where a festival called Lupercalia was celebrated in February. This festival was dedicated to fertility and purification. During the Lupercalia festival, Roman priests, the Luperci, performed rituals that included animal sacrifices and blessing women to ensure fertility. This festival was very popular and was celebrated from the 13th to the 15th. February.
Christian tradition and Saint Valentine
Christian Valentine’s Day is often associated with Saint Valentine, who was an early Christian martyr. There are several stories about St. Valentine, but the most common one is that he was a priest who lived during the time of the Roman emperor Claudius II. The emperor forbade his soldiers to marry because he believed that single men made better soldiers. However, Valentinus secretly continued to ordain soldiers, for which reason he was arrested and finally executed on 14 February.
Development of Valentine’s Day
Celebrating Valentine’s Day began to become more common in the Middle Ages, especially in England and France. In the 14th century, the English writer Geoffrey Chaucer mentioned Valentine’s Day in his work “Parliament of Foules”, where he associated the day with love and mating. This helped establish Valentine’s Day as a romantic holiday.
Modern Valentine’s Day
In the 1800s, Valentine’s Day began to take its current form, when people started sending each other cards, poems and gifts. The first commercial Valentine’s Day cards appeared in the United States in the 1840s. Today, Valentine’s Day is celebrated around the world and has many traditions, such as giving flowers, chocolates and cards.
Valentine’s Day in Finland
In Finland, Valentine’s Day started to be celebrated more widely only in the 1980s. In Finland, the day is known as “Valentine’s Day” and is dedicated more to friendship than romantic love. This makes Finnish Valentine’s Day unique compared to many other countries.
So the origin of Valentine’s Day is multi-phase and multicultural. It has evolved from a pagan fertility festival to a Christian martyr’s day and finally to the current day of love and friendship.
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