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In view of the extreme commercialism surrounding Valentine's Day today, one
could easily be led to believe it was thought up by card or gift producers, but
Valentine's Day actually has more than 2000 years of history behind it.
The celebration probably originates in ancient Rome during the celebration of Juno, the queen of the Roman gods as well as the goddess of women and of marriage. She was always celebrated on February 14, which was also the day before the large Lupercalia festival started. The Lupercalia festival went on for several days and honored several different gods and goddesses. On February 14, during the celebration of Juno, young boys and girls were paired together for the games and the dancing during the coming Lupercalia festival (or sometimes for the whole following year). Often the boys and girls paired up this way fell in love with each other and got married. What does celebrating Juno have to do with Valentine's Day as we know it today? The answer to that question is, as it often is, that old traditions were mixed with new ones and formed something similar but for different reasons. The Romans brought the tradition of celebrating their gods to the British isles when they had conquered them and made them part of their huge empire. When Rome became Christian, February 14 came to be connected to Saint Valentine instead of Juno. |
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