Talking about 14th February, I found my assignment on western cultural history.
Hopefully, it will be useful for you. Check this out!
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In the ancient Rome’s tradition, the medieval of February was well-known as love and fertility period. Based on their calendar, the period between medieval of January and medieval of February called Gamelion month which was dedicated to the marriage of Zeus and Hera, Greek gods who were adopted by Romans. (http://www.fortunecity.com/campus/teacher/576/valentin.htm).
Further, there were a purifying ceremony in the ancient Rome which held at February, 13th -18th. February 15th was famous as Feast of Lupercalia which related to one of Rome’s god Lupercus, the god of fertility. This god pictured as a man who half-nude and wore goat furs. Every February 15th, Romans held a worship ritual to Lupercus by gave goat to him. They went to the temple and asked for Lupercus protection from wolfs’ disturbance. In this ceremony, young men whiplash the girls with the goat furs. The girls would be asked for whiplash because they believed that the more lash they got, they would be more beautiful and fertile.
Then, the first two days (13th and 14th) were dedicated to the queen of love named Juno Februata. In February 14th, there was a festival called “name lottery” which done by young men and the girls. The girls wrote their name and they entered it to a box. After that, every young man put a name and the girl’s name that appeared would be his valentine couple for the festival day. This day also called Valentine’s Day, the day to celebrate love. Actually, in ancient Rome the word valentine (comes from Latin word which means “the strongest and the most courageous”) addressed to the Roman’s gods, Nimrod the god of sun and Lupercus the god of fertility (http://www.file:///F:/v%20day/valentine.htm).
When the Christian religion came to Rome, it influenced Romans, so they changed the name of the girls in the festival to the name of Paus and Pastor. Then in 498 AD, Pastor Pope Gelasius declared that February 14th celebrated as Valentine's Day.
Whereas, the history of Valentine’s Day itself had two versions. The first version told that Rome was the country under the reign of Emperor Claudius II. It is said that Emperor Claudius was hard-hearted king who continuously engaged Rome in bloody battles. In order to keep fighting, he needed to keep recruiting soldiers. But, Claudius found that men were not willing to join army because of their attachment with their wives and families. That‘s why, Claudius made a cruel decree that banned engagements and marriages in Rome. He also said that any priest who married a young couple would be punished death. (http://www.stvalentinesday.org/about-st-valentine.html).
Young men and women found a savior when they met Valentine because he against the Claudius’s decree and secretly arranged marriages for many couples. When Claudius found the Valentine's defiance, he was brutally beaten up and Claudius sent him to a prison. Later, Valentine was punished death on February 14, about 270 AD. For his martyrdom and service towards lovers Valentine was named a saint after his death. And the day of Valentine’s death was celebrated as Valentine’s Day or the day of love to remembering his martyrdom.
The real history of Rome Valentine’s Day was still ambiguous whether it happened in the period of ancient Rome or Christianity because its history had two versions. As we noted before, the first version history happened in the Rome’s period, while the second version happened in early Christianity period as we see below.
According to another version related to Valentine's Day, a saint called Valentine was an early Christian in Rome who loved children very much. At that time Rome was not welcome to the Christianity and even persecuted Christians to make sure that Rome free from the followers of Christianity faith. But as a Christian, St Valentine continued to practice Christianity and refused to worship Roman Gods. When Emperor Claudius knows this defiance, he put Valentine into a hard imprisonment for a year (http://www.stvalentinesday.org/about-st-valentine.html).
Some historians believe that Valentine was executed because he tried to help some Christian prisoners escape from the prison because they were treated badly. Another believed that because of his good behavior, Valentine was gave a chance by Claudius to change his faith. But Valentine refused it and he tried to convert Claudius to Christianity. This made Claudius very angry and finally he ordered for Valentine execution. Saint Valentine was beheaded on February 14th 269 AD or 270 AD.
It is said that when Valentine was in jail, little children began to feel sad because they missed Valentine so much. They even sent loving notes and flowers from the bars in the prison window. Further, during his stay in prison, Valentine fell in love with jailer Asterius’s blind daughter, whose name was Julia who usually brought him flowers and notes from children. It is said that day’s before his execution, Valentine prayed for his sweetheart then she got her eyesight back. Valentine also wrote a farewell note to Julia and signed it “From Your Valentine”.
This second version history relate to today’s celebration. Many Valentine cards bought by people then they sent it not only to their couples, but also parents, teachers, siblings, friends or any other person special to them, like what the children had done to St. Valentine when he was in jail. In the Valentine cards, there was a sentence such as “From your Valentine” or “Be my Valentine” like what St. Valentine’s say in his card for his girlfriend, Julia. Further, the Rome God of love, Cupid usually printed in the Valentine cards, so that many peoples familiar with this figures.
In short, if we go back into history about Rome Valentine’s Day then we celebrate it, we are following a Christian and ancient Rome’s tradition. We are plunged in another culture where send a cards, exchange gift and take our couples to a restaurant for dinner or go for a walk are considered romantic.
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We can see that Valentine’s Day is not our culture. It is something that is planted in our mind in order to be accepted unconsciously. It seems that Valentine’s Day is only something that is blown up to make some people get benefit from it, especially those who sell flower, chocolate or anything related to Valentine.
