Stolen from various internet sources:
Valentine's Day or Saint Valentine's Day is an occasion celebrated on February 14 by many people throughout the world. The holiday is named after two among the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love during the High Middle Ages (1400-ish), when the tradition of courtly love flourished thanks to popular stored written by Geoffrey Chauccer (the conceot of "Courtly love" was a medieval European conception of nobly and chivalrously expressing love and admiration - up until then, I suppose women just kidnapped men and forced them into the bedroom?).
While some claim the first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is in Parlement of Foules (1382) by Geoffrey Chaucer this may be the result of misinterpretation. Chaucer wrote:
For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.
(which is not only a possible source of Valentines day but is also the reason I flunked English Lit the first time I took it - Jesus!)
This poem was written to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia.
The sending of Valentines was a fashion in nineteenth-century Great Britain. In 1847 a woman named Esther Howland developed a successful business in her Worcester, Massachusetts home with hand-made Valentine cards based on British models. The popularity of her cards back then was a harbinger of the future commercialization of holidays in the United States.
I've always thought that St. valentines was one single dude but that is not the case. Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. Until 1969, the Catholic Church formally recognized eleven Valentine's Days. The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who suffered martyrdom about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia (an "avenue" in Rome, Italy - the most romantic city in the word next to Charleston, SC.)
One of these Valentines were supposedly buried on February 14th.
Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna (modern Terni, Italy) about AD 197 and is said to have been killed during the persecution of Emperor Aurelian. He is also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than Valentine of Rome.
The Catholic Encyclopedia also speaks of a third saint named Valentine who was mentioned in early martyrologies under date of February 14. He was martyred in Africa with a number of companions, but nothing more is known about him.
No romantic elements are present in the original early medieval biographies of either of these martyrs. Saint Valentine only became linked to romance in the fourteenth century. Until that time, they were just you standard, everyday martyr.
It is unclear how these original Valentines came to be associated with romantic love. According to one medieval author, St Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing the blind daughter of his jailer.
CUPID
In Roman mythology, Cupid (Latin "cupido") is the god of erotic love and beauty. He is also known by another one of his Latin names, Amor. In popular culture Cupid is frequently shown shooting his bow to inspire romantic love, often as an icon of Valentine's Day.
Eros is the equivalent deity in Greek mythology,
In the Roman version, Cupid was the son of Venus (goddess of love) and Mars (god of war), and in the Greek version he was the son of Aphrodite and was named Eros, the following story is almost identical in both cultures: He was often depicted with wings, a bow, and a quiver of arrows. When his mother got extremely jealous of the princess Psyche, who was so loved by her subjects that they forgot to worship Venus, she ordered Cupid to make her fall in love with the ugliest and poorest man in the world. When Cupid saw Psyche, though, he was so overcome with her unnatural beauty that he dropped an arrow on his foot, and fell in love with her himself.
Following that, Cupid visited Psyche every night in his invisible form and told her not to try to see him. Psyche, though, incited by her two older sisters who told her Cupid was a monster, tried to look at him and angered Cupid. When he left, she looked all over the known world for him until at last the leader of the gods, Jupiter, gave Psyche the gift of immortality so that she could be with him. Together they had a daughter, Voluptas (pleasure) and Psyche became a goddess of the soul.
Cupid's cult was closely associated with that of Venus, with Cupid being worshiped as devotedly as she. Additionally, Cupid's power was supposed to be even greater than his mother's, since he had dominion over the dead in Hades, the creatures of the sea and the gods in Olympus. Some of the cults of Cupid suggested that Cupid as son of Night and Hell mated with Chaos to produce both men and gods, making the gods the offspring of love.
These stories about the gods are probably not rooted in reality but I guess we will never know, will we?
Happy VD everyone! May Cupid visit you tonight!
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