The SHOCKING Origins of Valentine’s Day
Nowadays, we associate Valentine’s Day with love, chocolate, and roses. But its true origins might not be so syrupy-sweet. In fact, Valentine’s Day started as a Roman festival known as Lupercalia. This holiday wasn’t for the faint of heart. The celebration began with the sacrifice by the Luperci of goats and a dog. (Um, where was the ancient version of PETA when you needed them?!) So, how did such a festival like this morph into a holiday celebrating love?
The answer: Pope Gelasius I.
After forbidding the celebration of Lupercalia, Pope Gelasius I replaced it with St. Valentine’s Day. Historians have yet to pin down the identity of the eponymous Saint Valentine. Most agree that it’s more than likely a reference to the priest Valentine, whom Emperor Claudius II Gothicus martyred around 270 CE. Legend suggests that the soon-to-be martyr signed a letter “from your Valentine” to his jailer’s daughter, whom he had befriended and (per some accounts) healed from her blindness.
Two other St. Valentines might have inspired the holiday. The first was the Bishop of Interamna, another martyr who met his fate at the hands of Claudius II Gothicus. The third is a more mysterious figure. Little is known about him beyond reports that he suffered martyrdom in Africa along with several friends.
We may owe modern-day Valentine’s customs to birds. In medieval times, people believed that their mating season began on February 14th. Another popular legend harkens back to the first Saint Valentine, who apparently defied the emperor’s orders and secretly married couples to spare husbands from war.
Whatever the true origins of Valentine’s Day, the holiday got a lot more popular 1800s, when the first commercial valentines were printed in the United States. According to the Greeting Card Association, Valentine’s Day is the second most popular holiday for greeting cards, with a staggering 145 million cards being sold each year. Nearly 250 million roses are also grown for Valentine’s Day each year!
So, whether you love the holiday or agree with Mike Heck from The Middle that it’s a scam cooked up by greeting card companies, we hope at least you learned something today. And from everyone here at Senior Resource, we wish you a safe, happy, and love-filled Valentine’s Day!
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Originally published January 23, 2025
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