A partial Internet History of St. Valentine's Day.

Popular myth abounds concerning the origins, meaning, and even timing of St. Valentine's Day. Current American commercial tradition is to buy mass produced, themed greeting cards and gifts to present to your loved one, along with an expensive dinner and audacious bouquet of flowers (garnered at a temporarily inflated price). The story of Valentine's Day goes much further back than the inception of the greeting card industry in 1850 by Esther A. Howland. Another, more evangelical account of the history of valentines day opens questioning whether this version, "expressed in the current celebration of yummy chocolates, lovely cards, and sparkling engagement rings" captures the true meaning of Valentines day. "What is the story behind such a highly-retailed celebration?" With verifiable connections dating almost back to the beginning of our Calendar, perhaps the plural "stories" would be a more apt descriptor.

Some of the more prevalent legends assert that the martyred Roman priest Valentine, executed in the Third Century for performing illegal marriages, sent the first "Valentine" from his prison cell to his beloved. Yet variations on this legend also assert that he performed a miracle on his jailor's blind daughter, who in some variations is also his beloved. Still others assert that Valentine's supporters left him notes in the cracks of his cell, to uplift him in his time of sorrow. Such stories, however, only account for the cultural tradition of exchange, leaving out the spiritual element.

Accounts with more longer view and wider interpretation of the spirit of the holiday include discussions of fertility rite of Lupercalia from the Roman legend of the she-wolf and Romulus and Remus. In a further explanation of the Fifth century Rite, strips of sacrificed goat flesh, dipped in sacrificial blood, were brandished by priests who would "gently slap both women and fields of crops" to ensure fertility. While sacrifices and blood-soaked ceremonies have ceased, historian Jack Oruch asserts that "the idea that Valentine's Day customs perpetuated those of the Roman Lupercalia has been accepted uncritically and repeated, in various forms, up to the present."

Whatever the circumstances of its origin or meaning, Fourteenth Century English bard Geoffery Chaucer seems to get credit for the holiday's saturation with romance for two lines in his 1382 work, Parlement of Foules that celebrate the engagement of England's Richard II to Anne of Bohemia. With this literary precedent, Western and Christian cultures have, to varying degrees, accepted a romantic definition of the holiday.

There are those for whom Valentines Day holds little, no, or negative meaning. For several different reasons, Antivalentinism has become an increasing trend, especially among young singles. Some eschew the holiday because of relationship troubles, or choose to celebrate solitude. For others, disgust of Valentine's Day's gregious capitalistic overtones prefer instead to celebrate St. Skeletor's Day, February 15, to avoid the "corporate whore-fest" of Valentine's Day. Indeed, for many the moniker "Hallmark Holiday" has become a perjorative.


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Reflections on the Open Source history of Valentine's Day.

In all honesty, Wikipedia made this essay fairly easy to write, as it . The point of the exercise, however, was to compare the various sources found in the wild, wild web. The two encyclopedia sites I used, Wikipedia and Infoplease, had by far the most information to offer. Many of the sites I came across were often no more substantial than a conversation overheard in a restaurant at happy hour; sometimes less so.

Substantial or no, the variant explanations and characterizations of a single holiday are as astounding as they are plentiful. It reminds me very much of the old argument concerning the tales of the Brothers Grimm. At its kernel, the story told and lessons imparted are fairly universal, but details as much as motivation vary greatly in the telling, and depend very much on time and location. Versions of the Grimm tales from Medieval Europe are replete with gruesome details and sometimes violence, but underneath lies the moral of the story. Much like the differences in origin, meaning, and even celebration of Valentine's Day perhaps matter less than the ceremony of showing affection for loved ones, praying for fertility, or otherwise greeting the Spring with endearing thoughts.