History

Just who was this Valentine guy?

We figured it would be easy enough to explain the origins of Valentine's Day. Surely, the day's namesake was some romantic-minded fellow who pranced around in red tights or a silky toga and spread amour throughout the land. Turns out, it's a little more complicated than that.

Things were pretty tough for the guy who directly or indirectly started this day of expensive gifts and hard-to-book reservations. There are several versions of the story of St. Valentine. Like rumors at the White House, no one story could be confirmed. The reasons for the day could be any of the following:

February 14th was a designated feast day on the Roman Catholic calendar to honor two Christian saints martyred by the Roman Emperor Claudius II Gothicus. The Christians, at least one named Valentine, were executed on February 14. The feast day was removed from the Catholic calendar in 1969.

Legend has it that the reason Saint Valentine was beheaded was that he continued to marry couples after Claudius had forbade marriage amongst his soldiers.

February 15th was the beginning of the fertility festival in Rome to honor the pastoral god Lupercus.

There's an ancient belief, noted by Chaucer,that birds begin to mate on February 14th. I wonder if they have trouble getting into good restaurants, too.

And the practice of sending a sweetheart or special friend a gift dates back to the mid-1400s.

The modern celebration somehow picked up cupids, hearts, flowers and the over-use of the color red. It's also a day of huge profits for florists, greeting-card companies, candy merchants and the post office. Whatever the origin, if you're in love it's great, if you're not, it's a real drag.