Love is in the air today
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| Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net "Hearts Falling From Sky" |
Love is in the air, and with it,
red roses, chocolates in heart shaped boxes and jewelry. Today’s symbols and
celebration of the romantic love that we associate with Valentine’s Day have
little resemblance to its ancient Roman and early Christian roots, both of
which involved some violence.
The ancient Roman fertility feast of Lupercalia
In the middle of February, the
ancient Romans celebrated Lupercalia, a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus,
the Roman god of agriculture. While the festival involved a blessing of crops
with the blood of sacrificial animals, there were also rites for human
fertility.
The festival opened with the
sacrifice of a goat for fertility, and a dog for purification. The goat’s hide was turned into strips
that were then dipped into the sacrificial blood. The strips were used to whip
young women, who lined up to be beaten because they believed that the whipping
would make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, a lottery paired up the city’s unmarried
women and men for the remainder of the year. Sometimes the lottery got it
right, and couples that fell in love were married at the end of the year.
During the 5th
century, by which time Christianity had become the official religion of the
Roman empire, Lupercalia was outlawed, and in its place, Pope Gelasius declared
February 14 Saint Valentine’s Day.
Saint Valentine defies an emperor
Saint Valentine was a third
century Christian priest who lived during the reign of the Emperor Claudius II.
Claudius had prohibited young people from marrying because he thought that
unmarried men made better soldiers than men with wives and children. Valentine defied Claudius’ edict and
continued to perform marriages in secret.
In 269 AD, Valentine was sentenced to a brutal execution that included
beating, stoning and decapitation.
A legend associated with
Valentine’s imprisonment and execution has done much over the centuries to
establish the man as a romantic figure.
According to the story, while he was in prison, Valentine healed the daughter
of one of the Roman judges who was to decide his fate, and he fell in love with
her. On the day of his execution, he sent her a note, and signed it, “From your
Valentine”, the salutation immortalized in Valentine’s Day greetings.
The association of the feast of
Saint Valentine with romance began to gain traction in medieval times when written
Valentine’s Day messages began to appear. This may have had something to do
with Geoffrey Chaucer, who in his poem “The Parliament of Fowls” (1380) linked
Valentine’s Day to love; on Valentine’s Day all the birds known to man chose
their mates.
Towards the middle of the 18th
century, friends and lovers of all social classes exchanged symbols of
affection. By 1900, commercial cards began to replace handwritten notes, and at
some point, Valentine’s Day morphed into the hugely successful commercial
celebration of today.
Valentine's Day ejects money into retail coffers
In the United States, an
estimated 200 million roses are grown for February 14, when 180 million
Valentine’s Day cards will be exchanged, and six million couples will become
engaged. According to its Valentine’s Day Consumer Spending Survey, the
National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates that the cost of all this love in
the air will reach a staggering $18.9 billion this year.
Here in Canada, we are less
extravagant. According to the Retail Council of Canada, in 2013 Canadian
shoppers averaged $37 on Valentine’s Day purchases. That same year in the
United States, American shoppers spent an average of $130.97, and this year’s
NRF survey suggests that amount will increase to $142.31.
The roots of Valentine’s Day go
deep into the past, to a pagan fertility festival and the martyrdom of a priest
whom legend remade into a figure of romantic love. Since medieval times, it has
been a day to express and exchange tokens of affection. So whether it is a
simple card or an expensive piece of jewelry, whether you spend a little, a
lot, or nothing at all on Valentine’s Day, love is in the air; breathe it in!
