We all know about Valentine’s Day, some of us celebrate it, others don’t, however everybody knows why all shops are filled with heart-shaped gifts to buy for our partners on the 14th of February. What are the origins of Valentine’s Day?
There are multiple stories about how Valentine’s Day first emerged and all of them have one thing in common – they are related to Saint Valentine of Rome. The most popular and acknowledged story is the one about Valentine massively helping the oppressed Christians in the 3rd century in the Roman Empire. One of the ways he helped was by performing weddings for Christians, who were banned from getting married, due to him previously being a priest. Valentine was put in prison where he got to know his jailer quite well, met his blind daughter and restored her sight. He also wrote a letter for her as a gift to “celebrate” her having her sight back – he signed it ‘Your Valentine’. It happened shortly before his capital punishment. Valentine was officially announced Saint Valentine of Rome by Pope Gelasius I in 496. As another act of honouring the martyr, the Pope also established the 14th of February to be the Saint Valentine’s Day.
Due to love being such a significant part of Valentine’s life, Saint Valentine’s Day has always been associated with expressing love. However, it wasn’t until the 18th century when it began to evolve from Saint Valentine of Rome’s Day into Valentine’s Day as we know it. The tradition of couples giving each other presents started first in England and the USA – the majority of the gifts were cards knows as ‘valentines’ as well as flowers and confectionery. ‘Valentines’ would usually depict Cupid, the Roman god of love, along with red hearts which have become the ultimate symbol of Valentine’s Day across the globe.
Nowadays Valentine’s Day is one of the biggest ‘feasts’ of every year, not only in the USA and the UK but also across the whole of Europe, South America, Asia and Australia. For example, in the Philippines it is the most common wedding date known to be the luckiest date to get married – that’s why the 14th of February is the day of mass weddings for hundreds of Philippine couples every year. In the UK it is the day of all kinds of romantic gifts, around £1.3 billion is spent annually by British people on valentine presents, such as cards, flowers, chocolates etc.
When it comes to Poland, Valentine’s Day became well-known relatively late – in the 1990s. The biggest February 14th celebrations in Poland have taken place since 2002 in Chełmno due to Saint Valentine’s relic being kept in Chełmno’s church. The annual ‘festival’ includes live concerts, exhibitions, various attractions and games. However, Valentine’s Day is not celebrated in Poland as much as other European countries due to many criticising it as being foreign to Polish culture, commercial and consumerist.
Author: Wiktoria Lewandowska
Pictures: Pixabay
