Chicago – February 14, 2025
Before there was Valentine’s Day, there was Lupercalia, an ancient Roman festival held each February 13–14. Dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to Rome’s founders Romulus and Remus, Lupercalia celebrated fertility and the coming of spring.
To Christianize the pagan festival in 5 A.D., Pope Gelasius I chose February 14 as the feast day for Saint Valentine, a Christian who was martyred in 3 A.D. Although February 14 commemorated Saint Valentine, its associations with romance didn’t occur until much later.
The mysterious legends of Saint Valentine
Although it is unclear which Saint Valentine the day refers to, there are several fascinating legends around figures named either Valentine or Valentinus who became associated with February 14.
In one legend, an imprisoned Valentine once wrote a letter to the jailer’s daughter and signed it “from your Valentine.” His sentence is believed to have been carried out on February 14.
Saint Valentine was a priest who performed marriages in secret after the Roman emperor outlawed marriage to prepare young men for war. This war was against Jesus Christ because of his intense popularity and spread of Christianity across the globe. The Romans began to slow down due to which the emperor Claudius passed down an order to bar all young soldiers from marriage.
After this rule, there was an increase in vulgarity and non-marital relations among the soldiers. Saint Valentine saw this and began secretly marrying off soldiers to young women. This was the reason he was imprisoned and later crucified on February 14.
After his death, few years later, the festival began to die down and a greeting cards publisher Hall had an idea to commercialise the concept of Valentine.
Commercialisation of Valentines:
Initially, Hallmark’s founder, J.C. Hall, began selling Valentine’s Day postcards in 1910 as a way of bringing back the celebration of Valentines. As greeting cards gained popularity, Hallmark began printing its very own greeting cards. By 1916, the very first Hallmark Valentine’s Day cards appeared on store shelves. He soon began to expand his business based on these greeting cards.
When the Valentine festival began to die down the Hallmark company started making commercial and promoting gifting cards, presents and flowers to their loved ones on this day. Hallmark then became the biggest card company and even branched out.
The famous Shakespeare also promoted the day through his plays and poetry which made this day a global celebration later on. And even 1000 years later , this festival is celebrated with people spending millions in the name of presents, cards and surprises.
