Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14. It is the day when lovers pay extra attention to each other. In the year 496, February 14 was declared the day of Saint Valentine by Pope Gelasius I. Saint Valentine is the patron saint for beekeepers and lovers. Originally, Valentine’s Day was the day on which you could declare your love to someone anonymously with a card, letter or otherwise in the hope that ‘your valentine’ would understand who the message came from and feel the same way. From the 18th century onwards, it has also been claimed that Valentine’s Day was set on February 14 to replace old fertility festivals.
Commerce and Valentine’s Day
In recent years, however, we have seen Valentine’s Day being increasingly taken over by commerce. It is not the act of declaring love anonymously that is central, but commerce has decided that it is a day to declare love for each other. Just like Father’s Day and Mother’s Day, it has become more of a celebration for gift shops, gift shops, flower shops and candy shops. Flowers are sold at top prices on that day, just like on Mother’s Day.
History and Legends
Valentine (or Valentiuns in Latin) is said to be associated with one or two martyrs from the third century. It is still unclear whether these are two different Valentines or whether these two martyrs are actually one and the same person. One of the Valentines is said to have been a Roman priestess who died during a Christian persecution during Emperor Claudius II Gothicus (268-270). The other was Bishop of Terni who was also martyred as a Christian by the Romans. However, no biography has ever been written about Valentine.
A legend has it that two young lovers came to Bishop Valentine with a request to get married. The woman was a Christian, the man a pagan soldier. Valentine believed that love was enough to seal the marriage, even though this was not officially allowed by Roman law. After the marriage between a pagan and a Christian, word spread like wildfire and several couples who had the same dilemma went to Valentine’s Day to get married.
He was soon arrested for this and had to appear before the emperor. Valentine tried to convert Emperor Claudius to Christianity, but the emperor was offended by this and had Valentine tortured and beheaded. This reportedly happened on February 14. Before the execution of the sentence, Valentine is said to have given a note to the jailer’s daughter with the text: From your Valentine.
Another story has it that a prison guard from Rome, where Bishop Valentine was then imprisoned, made a request to him to heal his blind daughter. However, a medicine prescribed by Valentine did not work. On the day of the beheading, the jailer tried to stop it. After Valentine’s beheading, the blind daughter received a note from Valentine. A yellow flower emerged from the note (Valentine gave a flower to people who asked him for advice). The note bore the text ‘From Valentinus’, the story goes that from that moment on the girl could see again. The family then converts to Christianity.