Feast of Saint Valentine, St. Valentine’s day or more commonly known as Valentine’s Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14 every year. This day is a celebration of love, admiration, friendship and romance. Chocolate, lollipops, notes, bears, and flowers- that’s what a typical Valentine’s celebration looks like, but how did these celebrations come about?
Valentine’s Day traces back to the 3rd Century A.C.E., and holds religious and cultural significance. Saint Valentine of Rome- was imprisoned for teaching and ministering Christian values and later, was executed February 14. He was known to have ministered weddings – hence the romance associated with Valentine’s day- and after his death, the first feast in celebration of his life happened to fall in the 18th century, the apparent “lovebird” era. Since that first feast, Valentine’s day gained popularity and its association with love grew rapidly.
During the same time period, in England, due to the extensive growth of this new popular feast day, it was starting to become common for couples to send each other flowers or greetings on this day. Eventually, in Italy, keys with the figure of St. Valentine’s were given to newlyweds to express love and be a symbol of opening up a new door in their lives. As the influence of St. Valentine’s Day spread rapidly, Valentine’s day symbols changed from keys and greetings – although greetings are still common today– to hearts and confectionery.
As times changed, the name of the holiday was changed from Feast of Saint Valentine to St. Valentine’s Day and later shortened to just Valentine’s Day. As well, the holiday became much more inclusive. It started off just as a celebration of romance and with only couples celebration, but now is a day to not only continue celebrating romance but as well friendship. In the United States, it is common for an elementary school student to bring Valentine’s grams– a greeting card with a treat attached to it– to their entire class as a gesture of love and kindness.
So, the next time you eat a Sweetheart candy, remember that the holiday is so much more than just another “ consumerist” day, for it is a day for love and admiration.