Valentine’s Day has varied history
Many myths surround _
St. Valentine legend
For Oregon history buffs,
Feb 14 means Admis
sion Day — the day in
1859 that Oregon became the
33rd state of the Union But
for most of the rest of the
world, the 14th is a day for
love, Valentine's style
Like many occasions of the
calendar, St Valentine s Day
has become merely another
reason to support the greet
ing card, candy and flower in
dustries That's just as well,
for its roots as a religious oc
casion are suspect at best
The history of Valentine's
Day has long been muddled
by the many legends of the
saints (there were two or
three by the name of Valen
tine) and their thin connec
tions to the theme of love and
lovers. It's origin, it seems,
depends on which source you
read.
Antedating the lives of the
saints, a Roman festival
called Lupercalia was held on
Feb 15th to ensure protection
from wolves During this cele
bration, young men struck
women with strips of animal
hides in the belief that whip
ping made them more fertile
Britain borrowed Lupercalia
from the Romans when it was
conquered in 43 A D . and the
festival is linked to Valen
tine s Day because of the si
milar date and the connection
with fertility.
There were two saints
named Valentine in the early
Christian church The modern
tradition of sending Valen
tine's Day cards may or may
not have any relation to the
saints In legend, their lives
are connected with the Valen
tine's Day theme.
In the third century A D ,
Valentine was a pagan priest
who was convened to Christi
anity and became a bishop At
the time, the Roman Emperor
Claudius abolished marriage
because he believed that sin
gle men were better soldiers
Valentine secretly married
young lovers, but was arrest
ed, imprisoned and eventually
clubbed and beheaded on
Feb 14, 269
Another account says Val
entine frequently aided perse
cuted Christians and was
thrown into jail But he contin
ued his saintly work and was
executed on Feb 14, only at
ter it was realized that he had
cured his jailer's daughter of
blindness Whether this mira
cle was performed by the first
Valentine or a second one
again depends on the source
One Valentine story tells of
a bishop who healed the son
of Craton the rhetorician, who
almost choked to death by a
fish bone
Another story is that in Ita
ly and Germany, Valentine
was appealed to help against
epilepsy, plague and fainting
diseases
Yet another myth says that
Valentine was an early Chris
tian who made friends with
many children but was impris
oned by the Romans because
he refused to worship their
gods The children who
missed Valentine tossed
notes of love between the
bars of his cell window This
tale might explain why people
exchange messages on Valen
tine's Day
Another theory traces the
exchange of valentines to the
English poet Geoffrey Chau
cer. He mentioned in his writ
ings that birds began to pair
off on that day Indeed,
springtime had always been
believed to be a time for lov
ers, and the old English belief
was that birds chose their
mates on the 14th
In any case, Valentine's
Day cards are believed to be
the first greeting cards to be
exchanged While wood en
gravers produced prints with
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