All Flowers and Gifts: The History of Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day is thought to be derived from the pagan celebration of Lupercalia, an ancient Roman festival which began on February 15th each year and lasted for several days. Lupercalia honoured Lupercus, the God of herds and crops, who was thought to protect shepherds and their sheep from the wolves and bring people luck in bearing children. During the celebration of Lupercalia, the names of Roman girls were put into a large urn and Roman boys would pick a name from the urn. The boys and girls then paired up for the Lupercalia celebrations.

February 14th later became a Christian celebration and was celebrated as the Feast of St. Valentine’s. Though Roman Catholics have 8 different saints called Valentine, the most famous Valentine was a priest who lived in Rome in 270 AD. This Valentine was popular with children because of his love and kindness and young couples loved him because he secretly performed marriages, an act forbidden at that time by Emperor Claudius II. Though Valentine was jailed for his Christian beliefs, the people who adored him threw flowers and messages into his cell. While in jail, Valentine fell in love with the jailer’s daughter, Julia, whose blindness he cured. On February 14th, Valentine was executed, but 2 centuries later, in 486 AD, February 14th was declared St. Valentine’s Feast Day in honour of the martyr.
St. Valentine’s Day spread to other parts of Europe as the centuries went by, and eventually even made it around the world as a day to celebrate love. By around 1000, young men and women celebrated St. Valentine’s Day by strolling through gardens listening to music, singing songs, and reciting poetry. By the 1400’s, it was the custom for young men to send their sweethearts a gift on St. Valentine’s Day. Often they were gifts of flowers or birds, though the wealthy often gave gifts of expensive jewelry. Still later it became custom for children to go house to house on the morning of February 14th to sing and beg for pennies or treats. In England during the 1700’s valentines were placed on friends’ doorsteps and were now given to both men and women.