It
is thought that St. Valentine's day dates back to the
ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia. Early Rome was
plagued by marauding packs of wolves from the woods
nearby. On February 15th the Romans would
celebrate the festival of Lupercalia by sacrificing
goats at the cave called Lupercal, to one of their gods,
Lupercus. This cave was supposedly where the two
founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus were suckled by a
wolf - Lupus in Latin. Lupercalia was celebrated
as a spring festival, and February 15th was
early springtime as the Roman calendar was then
different.
During the early days
of Christianity in Rome, Emperor Claudius II decreed
that Roman soldiers may not marry or get engaged. The
thinking was that soldiers with such emotional bonds
would rather stay at home than fight wars. During
Emperor Claudius's reign a priest called Valentine
defied this law and secretly married young couples.
Valentine was eventually arrested, imprisoned and
beheaded on February 14th. As Rome became
more Christian, priests moved the holiday of Lupercalia
to February 14th. This day then became an
occasion to celebrate Valentine, rather than the pagan
festival of Lupercalia
The giving of Valentine
cards started in the 16th century although
the custom of sending them didn't become popular until
the 18th. Then cards were hand made
and the sender made up romantic messages. The 19th century saw the arrival of the first commercial
Valentine cards. The early part of the 20th century saw a decline in the giving of Valentine cards
as the verses had become more obscene than
romantic. The 1930's saw a revival and
commercially produced cards began to be more popular.
Today
retailers are confident of bumper sales of Valentine
cards and gifts. It is impossible to open a paper, watch
the TV or surf the web (even on this website!) without
being reminded of St. Valentine's Day. Even though
it's all very commercialised, wouldn't it be a shame to
let old traditions die?
St. Valentine's
Day article © Wimbledon Visitor 2006
Send
Beautiful Fresh Flowers to Wimbledon and Beyond
Listings
from our Wimbledon Florists Directory
Top
of Page
Section: St.
Valentine's Day
