History Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day has become one of the most celebrated holidays in the U.S. today. On average, Americans spend almost 14 billion dollars on chocolates, flowers, and other sweet treats for their Valentine. The origins of Valentine’s Day date back hundreds of years ago when Pagans celebrated a Lupercalia, a festival held in the middle of February to honor either the she-wolf of Rome, Lupa, or Faunus, the god of fertility. In an attempt to convert Pagans to Christianity, Pope Gelasius declared February 14th Valentine’s Day in honor of St. Valentine.

St. Valentine is thought to have been a Roman priest living under the rule of Claudius the second. Claudius the second believed that men fought better when they weren’t distracted by their wives. So, he made it illegal for young men to get married. However, St. Valentine continued to marry couples in secret. Eventually, he was caught and sentenced to death, but before his  execution he became good friends with the jailer's daughter. On the morning of his execution, he gave the jailer's daughter a goodbye note signed “your Valentine.”; this is where the iconic phrase comes from.

Valentine’s Day didn’t catch on in the U.S. until the mid 1800s when companies started selling Valentine’s cards and postage became more affordable. Since then, Valentine’s Day has grown to become a widely celebrated commercial holiday. Thirty Five million boxes of chocolate are sold every Valentine’s Day and more cards are sold than any other holiday with the exception of Christmas.  

Works Cited

Barth, Edna, and Ursula Arndt. "How St. Valentine's Day Came to Be."Hearts, Cupids, and Red Roses: The Story of the Valentine Symbols. New York: Seabury, 1974. 6-11. Print.

"History of Valentine’s Day." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.