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St. Valentines Day Origin Is Surrounded by Mystery

Probably more mystery surrounds the origins and customs of St. Valentine’s Day, one of our oldest and best loved holidays, than any other that we celebrate.

Why, for example, was the heart chosen to symbolize affection and consequently the event itself – the heart that adorns the sentimental Valentine, the box in the shape of a heart that contains the Valentine gift candies, or the heart-shaped backgrounds that provide display mountings for other gifts of the day? There seems to be no conclusive answer to this question which has puzzled many, including the great essayist, Charles Lamb, who also wondered, why the heart? Why not the liver, or stomach, for instance?

And, paradoxically, the practices by which it is marked – the exchange between loved ones of note greeting cards, candy and other gifts — bear no relation to the personal life or attitude of the singularly chaste martyred priest, St. Valentine, who is believed to have been stoned to death and beheaded during the persecution of the early Christians about 270 A.D.

As a matter of fact, according to what little historical data is available, there were three St. Valentines, all martyrs of course, whose names could be logically associated with February 14. Which of the three was THE St. Valentine?

Because St. Valentine’s Day is so old, because our knowledge of its earliest beginnings is so dependent upon pagan myth and practice and folklore of the early Christian era and the middle ages, it has no clearly traceable history. Thus, there are three possible explanations as to the origins of St. Valentine’s Day as we know it.

Possibly the most logical of the three is the one which traces the development of the vent to the pre-Christian era of pagan Rome, when wolves were especially abundant and threatening, and a good wolf hunter was held in high esteem. Each year, on February 14, the Romans held a feast of Lupercalia, in honor of Lupercus, “the wolf destroyer.” At this festival, it was customary for young people to draw from a box the names of persons of the opposite sex who would be their partner for the ensuing year.

With the rise of Christianity and the desire on the part of the church to wipe out such superstitious pagan practices, it is suggested that a new feast was introduced to replace the Lupercalia. This was given the name of St. Valentine because his day on the church calendar occurred coincidentally [with Lupercalia].

Another explanation has to do with the early belief in many portions of Europe that the mating of birds took place on or about the 14th of February. According to Bailey, whose “Dictionary” preceded ours, “probably thence came the custom of young men and maidens choosing Valentines or special loving friends on this day.” Certainly this idea has held sway for many years, for Chaucer wrote: “For this was Seynt Valentyne’s Day. When every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.” [Remember the term “love birds.”]

Other scholars have expressed the idea that the day and the practice of expressing affection thereon might have grown out of the similarity between the Norman word Galantin, which is the name of a saint and also means “lover of women.” They think that Galantin’s Day, with “g” often pronounced as “v,” led to the confusion in the popular mind.

From an unnamed and undated Parkersburg newspaper

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Bob Enoch is president of the Wood County Historical and Preservation Society. If you have comments or questions about Look Back items, please contact him at: roberteenoch@gmail.com, or by mail at WCHPS, PO Box 565, Parkersburg, WV 26102.