I’ve never especially liked Valentine’s Day as a holiday, but it turns out it actually has a pretty interesting history - or at least there’s much more to it than I was expecting. Here’s some of the more interesting bits:

1. In ancient Athens, there was month called Gamelion, lasting roughly from the middle of January to the middle of February, which celebrated the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera (of course, Zeus was anything but faithful to that marriage, as I’ve gone into elsewhere).
2. In ancient Rome, February 15th was the Lupercalia, which was a fertility festival celebrating the god Faunus who was later absorbed into Pan. The month of February is named after the goat-hide whips (februa) which were used by priests as part of the ritual (februare means to purify)
3. The Catholic feast of St. Valentine was set in 498 by Pope Gelasius. Some say that it was to counter the pagan sex practices associated with the Lupercalia
4. As far as “romantic love” is concerned though, the feast day wasn’t associated with that until the Middle Ages, because the idea that people could be romantically in love didn’t have widespread currency until that time. (I also have an older post that is semi about that, in relation to the movie Deuce Bigalow.)
5. There was also a medieval legend in England and/or France that said that February 14th is the day that birds pair off to mate. On that day from the 14th century onward, it became more common for lovers to exchange written notes.
6. Valentine’s day supposedly came to the US during the 18th centure with English settlers.
7. There are three different Catholic saints named Valentine, all of whom were martyrs. But in 1969, the Church removed St. Valentine’s day from it’s officially celebrated feasts, believing that the day was ultimately of legendary rather than historical origin.
8. Here is a sampling of the legends surrounding St. Valentine’s (via the History Channel):
   One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men — his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

   … According to one legend, Valentine actually sent the first ‘valentine’ greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl — who may have been his jailor’s daughter — who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed ‘From your Valentine,’ an expression that is still in use today.

Of course, for some reason, I can’t seem to find any good info which closely traces the development of the holiday as a commercial enterprise in modern times. I know this is a really significant piece of it’s history, but I’ve only seen dribs and drabs about it. I have also seen a lot of information and references provided by something called “The Greeting Card Association.” I’m guessing this is some sort of gift industry cartel. Knowing how these things work, they’ve probably been putting out information on the history of the holiday - but the kind that excludes their involvement. I did read somewhere in passing that the diamond cartel started promoting Valentine’s Day as a diamond-gift holiday only as recently as the 80’s. Love to see more in this direction if anybody’s got anything.