Happy Valentine’s Day!
Today, February 14, marks Valentine’s Day, the annual celebration of romantic love where lovers exchange gifts, greeting cards, and candies. But, Valentine’s Day was not always devoted to the idea of romantic love. This take on the holiday originated in the writings of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the ideas of courtly love flourished in European culture and literature. Valentine’s Day began as a celebration of at least one Christian martyr named Valentinus. Two Valentines are popularly considered to be the influence for the holiday: Valentine of Rome, and Valentine of Terni. Valentine of Rome was martyred in approximately 496 AD and is buried on the Via Flaminia. His skull, crowned with flowers, is held in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome, while a multitude of other artifacts are held in Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland. Valentine of Terni was made bishop of Interamna in approximately 197 AD, and is believed to have been martyred during the reign of Emperor Aurelian. Buried in a different section of the Via Flaminia, Valentine of Terni’s artifacts are held at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni.
Despite the romantic connotations of Valentine’s Day being a later addition to the holiday, the new traditions were celebrated wildly. As early as the 18th century, books were published with romantic verses for young men who were too clumsy to form their own. By the 1950s, the tradition of exchanging hand-written cards was extended to any many of gifts (though this practice had been popular in many areas for some time before). The U.S. Greeting Card Association claims that as many as 190 million cards are sent each year, not including the valentines that are exchanged by children at school. With the onset of the internet, Valentine’s Day is flourishing on a new medium. An estimated 15 million e-valentines were sent in 2010. Looking at the explosive surge in social media, and an ever-increasing global connectivity in both technology and culture, it seems likely that Valentine’s is a tradition that will continue to grow for years to come.
