History of Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day! Watch this interesting video about the history of the holiday from the History channel:

Read more for the transcript!

Transcript

• Ah, love!
• While it may not be what makes the world go round, it is what makes the ride worthwhile
• Maybe that's why billions of people throughout the centuries have seen fit to dedicate an entire day to grand gestures of romance with Valentine's Day
• The only holiday best celebrated in pairs
• "The History of the Holidays"
• For all its popularity, history doesn't give us any guarantees as to the origins of Valentine's Day
• But we do know that it contains vestiges of the early Christian church and ancient Rome
• The association between mid-February and romance goes back to a pagan festival known as Lupercalia
• Likely honoring either Lupa, the she-wolf of Rome, who suckled Romulus and Remus
• Or Faunus, their god of fertility
• The festivities began with an animal sacrifice
• Then the ritualistic slapping of young women with strips of the animal's skin and blood to bestow fertility for the coming year
• In the 5th [fifth] century, perhaps in an effort to Christianize the pagan festival, Pope Gelasius declared February 14th [fourteenth] as Saint Valentine's Day
• As for the real Saint Valentine, there were reportedly several canonized by the church
• Legend has it, that one Saint Valentine, a defiant Roman priest, lived during the third century AD under Emperor Claudius II
• Claudius was an ambitious ruler
• His battles required vast armies of men, to abandon their young families for long periods of time
• Resulting in a military that was half-hearted and homesick
• So determined was Claudius to stop love from sapping the will of his armies, he banned marriages altogether
• Father Valentine thought the ban unjust and defied the emperor, continuing to marry young lovers in secret
• The emperor eventually caught on to the priest's actions, arrested him and sentenced him to death
• It is believed that young couples he had secretly wed, would visit his cell, passing him flowers and notes through the bars as symbols of their gratitude
• The story continues that the condemned Father Valentine fell in love with his jailer's daughter
• On February 14th [fourteenth], the day he was executed, it is said that he passed the young girl a note
• It was signed, "from your Valentine"
• A tradition was born
• Cupid, the winged matchmaker, started out as the Roman god of love, inspired the image of cherubs for Christians and is now a favorite of card makers and mass marketers
• Our modern Valentine's Day, removed from its religious and pagan past, has evolved into one of the most celebrated holidays on the calendar
• On average Americans shower their loved ones with 180 million roses, red ones naturally!
• And almost 36 million heart-shaped boxes of candy
• Not to mention all those cards, dinners and diamonds
• All told, the holiday brings in almost 14 billion dollars annually, giving retailers plenty to love as well
• But if you're worried that you can't afford to treat your loved one properly next Valentine's Day, take heart!
• The poets were right, love is really all you need
• "How romantic"