“Love makes the world go round” so it is sung and believed by many.  The one holiday that celebrates love is Valentine’s Day, and though many have come to think this is a contemporary invention, the roots of Valentine’s Day go back to the ancient Roman Empire.  In ancient Rome the spring festival of Lupercallia was celebrated to encourage young couples to choose partners for marriage.  The customs related to this ancient ceremony involved purification and cleansing rituals that included animal sacrifice. This did not go over well with some early Christians, but it was tolerated until the late third century when Emperor Claudius II ordered that marriage be banned.  Believing that single men made better soldiers than married ones, he forbade young men to marry. 

A priest, Valentinus of Rome, renowned for his healing spirit, defied the emperor’s orders by performing the sacraments of marriage in secret for couples who came to him.  This went on for a while, but the secret got out and the emperor was enraged. Upon meeting, both Claudius II and Valentinus tried to convert one another, both men held to their own principles.  Valentinus, for his part, was thrown into prison and sentenced to death. The story goes that while in prison, he befriended the jailer’s blind daughter. She became so distraught upon hearing of Valentinus’ impending death, that Valentinus is said to have asked the jailer for a pen and paper.  He wrote the daughter a comforting and loving note, which he signed, “From your Valentine.”  To this day, we use this phrase in signing our Valentine cards. Valentinius is thought to have been executed on Feb. 14, 270.  The ancient Romans continued to celebrate the date by exchanging hand made notes and cards.  

The tradition grew in popularity throughout England and France and other parts of Europe.  During the Middle Ages it was thought that birds began to mate on February 14, and the great English writer Geoffery Chaucer used birds as a symbol of lovers in his work, “For this is St Valentine’s Day when every fowl cometh there to choose his mate.”  The British Museum has on display, what is thought to be the first Valentine card written by Charles, Duke of Orleans.  In 1415, he wrote the card to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.  

Valentine’s Day continued to be associated with courtship and romance. In the 18th Century gift giving and hand-made cards, made of lace, ribbons, hearts, and cupids became more and more popular.  The holiday grew in popularity and its traditions spread to the U.S.A.. In the 1840s Esther A. Howlanda who lived in Worcester, Massachusetts and who graduated from  Mt. Holyoke College, designed the first commercial greeting cards to celebrate Valentine’s Day.  She is considered to be the Mother of the Valentine.  

While Valentine’s Day is a booming commercial success today, the underlying meaning of the day has come to mean a sharing of our sentiments of love and even friendship. Whether you are celebrating “eros” (passionate love) or “agape” (love of friendship), Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate love, and that is something we can use more of. To read an example of what is thought by some to be one of the most beautiful love letters ever written, I invite you to read the letter John Keats wrote to his true love, Fanny Brawne shortly before he died. 

Celebrate this Valentine’s Day by returning to the tradition of writing a letter or creating a hand-made card  for your sweethearts and friends. Show your children and grandchildren how to create a special card for someone they love.  One of my favorite momentoes is a framed valentine card that my mother had from when she was a young girl.  It reminds me of how important it is to share our love with one another while we have the time and opportunity.  I also have a small construction paper heart with my daughter’s first Valentine written to me.  Over time I’m sure I’ve had more expensive and elaborate cards, but none means more to me than this sweet remembrance of my young child’s expression of love.