Valentine’s Day is a day when love is celebrated all over the world. Have you ever wondered what started Valentines day? Or how the name was created for the day? Or maybe even when Valentines day started? Well, let me tell you.

Valentine’s Day was started by someone named Saint Valentine. You might wonder who this Saint Valentine is. Well, he was a 3rd-century Roman martyr. Saint Valentine is the Patron Saint of love, young people, and epilepsy. Saint Valentine was mainly associated with love and healing, though. Saint Valentine was martyred on February 14th for his faith and for aiding persecuted Christians. As romantic love grew in the Middle Ages, it has been said that Saint Valentine wrote a final “From your Valentine” note to his beloved before he was executed.  

Valentine’s Day was named to honor Saint Valentine because Pope Gelasius I had established a feast day on February 14th to commemorate Saint Valentine’s death. Some legends say that Saint Valentine was a priest jailed for marrying young lovers in defiance of the Emperor Claudius II, who had banned marriage for soldiers. Emperor Claudius II thought that single men made better soldiers. 

Valentine’s Day was started by the Roman pagan festival. The festival was called Lupercalia. The Lupercalia festival was celebrated on February 15th. They celebrated the Lupercalia festival because it was a critical ritual of purification and fertility. The Lupercalia festival was celebrated on February 15th because it served as a spiritual cleansing for Rome. Some of the rituals from the festival included sacrifice, cleansing, and the Luperci run. They would sacrifice goats, and a dog would be sacrificed in the Lupercal cave, which is located on the Palatine Hills. The priests would eat a meal, then they would cut open the sacrificed animal. They would do this as part of cleansing. The final ritual they would do is the Luperci run. You might wonder what this is. Well, it’s pretty interesting, Priests would either be naked or partially clothed and run through the streets, striking people with thongs, they would especially do this towards the women. They would do this because they believed that it would bring fertility and easy childbirth. 

On February 14th, birds are considered to mate. Bird mating season traditionally started in Europe. It is believed that birds would pick their mates on February 14th. The traditional belief that birds mate on February 14th is that many birds would begin pairing or they would start to show early courtship behaviors, in mid-February. Birds like lovebirds, doves, swans, cranes, and cardinals would particularly mate because of the start of the breeding season. 

On Valentine’s Day, it is known that people will usually give their crush, wife/husband, or girlfriend/boyfriend cards, flowers, or candy. They will give cards to write a nice little letter, a poem, or anything. People give flowers or candy because it is like a small gift, or some people might give their significant other what they really want as a gift. 

Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14th. Before this holiday even became the holiday we celebrate today, there was something more behind it. Saint Valentine is the one who really created Valentine’s Day. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be celebrating Valentine’s Day with our boyfriend or girlfriend, or our wife or husband.