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Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day, February 14 - History, traditions and legends.

An interesting story about Valentine's Day for children and adults.

On February 14, Valentine's Day is celebrated - the patron saint of all lovers. This is the most romantic holiday in the world, when everyone confesses their love to each other, gives touching gifts and valentines to their loved ones. For more than eighteen centuries there has been a tradition of celebrating this holiday. Despite the fact that the name of the holiday contains the word “holy,” it has nothing to do with religion, since it is a secular holiday. However, we associate February 14th with St. Valentine.

The history of the holiday Valentine's Day. The story of Valentine's Day. Who is Valentin?

There are a lot of legends and rumors about Valentine's Day. So who is Saint Valentine who presented this holiday as a gift to the whole world?

There is an opinion that in fact there were two Saint Valentines, who were venerated on the same day and died in Ancient Rome in the year 269 (270?). But now no one reliably remembers which of them the holiday was dedicated to. What is known is that one of the saints, a younger one, served in Rome as a preacher and worked as a doctor. During the persecution of Christians by Emperor Claudius, he was executed. Another Valentine, Bishop of Terni, lived near Rome and died a martyr’s death at the hands of the pagans in the same year 269 (270?).

Much in the legends about St. Valentine converges and intertwines, but each of them has some kind of peculiarity that makes it different from the others.

Most versions converge on the first Valentine, who was a preacher and physician and lived in the 3rd century in the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Claudius. A difficult and cruel fate befell him. The fact is that the warrior emperor issued a decree according to which his soldiers could not marry, so that the joys of family life would not distract them from service. Valentin ignored Claudius's ban and married the lovers in secret. For these illegal acts he was captured and imprisoned.

The priest's jailer, having learned that the prisoner, among other things, had the gift of healing, brought his blind daughter to him. Valentin healed the girl, the young people fell in love with each other, but their happiness was not destined to work out - Valentin was executed.

However, the day of his death - February 14 - remained forever in people's memory as a symbol of the all-conquering power of love. It is also symbolic that the date of the execution of Saint Valens coincided with the Roman festivals in honor of the goddess of love Juno. Subsequently, Valentine was buried in Rome (according to other sources, some of his relics are located in his homeland in the city of Terni, and some are in the Church of St. Anthony in Madrid). It is not surprising that they did not forget about Valentine and chose him as the patron saint of all people in love. As a Christian martyr who suffered for the faith, he was canonized by the Catholic Church. In 496, Pope Gelasius declared February 14th Valentine's Day.

Since then, every year on February 14, people remembered Valentine and organized a Valentine's Day. On this day, girls and boys got together, wrote names on pieces of paper and threw these pieces of paper into a jug, then each pulled out one piece of paper and found out the name of their lover.

How everything really happened, we don’t know and will never know, but one thing is obvious - St. Valentine died in the name of love.

There is another version of the origin of the holiday. According to it, Valentine's Day originated from the Roman holiday of Lupercalia, celebrated in honor of the god Faun (Lupercus), the patron saint of flocks. The celebration took place annually on February 15th. In ancient times, on this day all the Romans stopped what they were doing and started having fun. Over time, the holiday changed, new rituals appeared.

The main task that everyone had to accomplish on this day was to find their soul mate. So after the end of the holiday, a large number of new families were created.

Traditions of celebrating Valentine's Day in different countries

Over time, Valentine's Day acquired its own rituals, some of which have survived to this day. In each country, the traditions were different, although what was common and unchanged for all peoples and times was that it is very popular to arrange weddings and get married on this day.

Some beliefs also say that on this holiday, a woman can approach a man dear to her and politely ask him to marry her. If the young man is not yet ready to take such a decisive step, then he should politely thank for the honor and give the woman a silk dress, and buy himself a silk cord with a heart strung on it.

In other countries, the tradition of donating clothes is somewhat modified. Thus, lovers give clothes to unmarried women as gifts. If a girl accepts and leaves a gift, it means she agrees to marry this person.

At different times in different countries there were different beliefs. For example, the first man a girl meets on this day should be her Valentine, regardless of his wishes.

Some people believed that if a girl saw a robin on Valentine's Day, then her husband would be a sailor; if she saw a sparrow, she would marry a poor man, but be happy with him; and if she saw a goldfinch, she would become the wife of a millionaire.

Valentine's Day in England

In medieval England, this custom was popular: several guys got together, wrote the names of girls on pieces of paper, put them in a hat and drew lots. The girl whose name fell to the young man became his “Valentina” for a year, and he became her “Valentine”.

“Valentine” had to treat his “Valentine” in a special way: compose sonnets in her honor, play the lute, and was also obliged to accompany the girl everywhere; in a word, behave like a real knight.

There was a tradition of dressing children up as adults. Having been reincarnated in this way, the children went from house to house and sang songs about St. Valentine.

Nowadays, the British understand love somewhat differently; this concept has expanded, since Valentine's Day is congratulated not only on people, but also on beloved animals, for example, horses or dogs.

In Wales, on February 14, in the old days, wooden “love spoons” were carved, which they then gave to their loved ones. The spoons were decorated with various hearts, keys and keyholes, which said: “you have found the way to my heart.”

Valentine's Day in America

The Americans also had their own traditions. At the beginning of the 19th century, on Valentine's Day, they sent marzipan products to their brides. However, the treat included sugar, which was very expensive in those days. This custom became truly widespread after sugar beets began to be processed in 1800. The Americans urgently set up caramel production on the continent and began scratching words corresponding to the holiday onto the sweets. Caramels were made in red and white, since red symbolized passion, and white symbolized the purity of love. In the 50s of the 19th century, sweets began to be placed in heart-shaped cardboard boxes.

Valentine's Day in Japan

In Japan, Valentine's Day began to be celebrated in the 1930s. This tradition did not start on its own, but at the instigation of one large company engaged in the production of chocolate. Chocolate, by the way, is still the most common gift on this day.

Nowadays, the Japanese have turned this holiday into “March 8 for men.” On this day, gifts in Japan are received mainly by representatives of the stronger sex. And, accordingly, it is customary to give various men’s accessories; razors, lotions, brushes, etc.

And on this day, the residents of Japan hold an event called “The Loudest Love Confession” - boys and girls climb onto the platform and take turns shouting love confessions with all their might.

How Valentine's Day is celebrated in other countries

The French customarily give jewelry as a gift on Valentine's Day. And the romantic French were the first to introduce “Valentines” as love letters and quatrains.

Balanced and calm Poles prefer to visit on this day

Poznan metropolis, where, according to legend, the relics of St. Valentine rest, and above the main altar is his miraculous icon. The Poles believe that if you pray to the image, it will definitely help you in your love affairs.

In Italy, Valentine's Day is celebrated very differently. Men of this country consider it their duty to present their beloved with gifts, mainly sweets, on this holiday. This is most likely why in Italy this day is called “sweet”.

Conservative Germans adhere to the point of view that Valentine is the patron saint of the mentally ill, so on this day they decorate psychiatric hospitals with scarlet ribbons and hold special services in chapels.

History of Valentine's Day goes far into the past. A modern woman must be well educated and know many things, otherwise she risks getting into trouble sooner or later. Even in such a simple moment as Valentine's Day.

Are you celebrating Valentine's Day? Me not. In general, I don’t really like these holidays - February 14, February 23, March 8. I love the New Year! And this smacks of some kind of obligation and for some reason a little melancholy. It’s as if only on these 3 days do people mean something to each other. No, I understand that in normal relationships, this is just an additional holiday, but still... 10 years ago we decided to introduce the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity instead of this holiday. And so, just on this day, July 8, my colleague went for the first time to see his mistress - a girl he had liked for a long time. Which he told everyone about with joy the next morning. We told him - well, of course you found the day! And he - yes, something somehow turned out ugly. That is, the logic is that if I went not on the 8th, but on the 7th or 9th, and celebrated the holiday with my family, then it doesn’t seem so scary. So it’s better to organize all holidays on any days and do “show off” more often and less. Although, to each his own, I do not impose my opinion on anyone.

Valentine's Day origin story

The history of this holiday was formed from 2 moments. The first is the Roman Lupercalia. A pagan rite, festival that originated around the 3rd century BC. At this time, there was a real epidemic in Rome - many women were either stillborn or had miscarriages. For that time, when the cities were small - the population of Rome, according to various sources, was only about 150 thousand people - the situation was serious. To save the city from extinction, the priests of the god Luperc decided to organize a public flogging of women (again, the woman is to blame - not only did she lose the child, she was also to blame for this!!). For this purpose, the priests sacrificed goats and dogs, and made belts from the skins, with which they, running naked around the city, flogged all the women they met. After this, a tradition arose - every year from February 13 to 15, the so-called. Lupercalia with flogging of women with goatskin belts. It is interesting that over time the tradition softened a little and women themselves willingly exposed their bodies, believing that such a flogging would bring fertility and easy childbirth.

The Romans usually borrowed everything from the Greeks. Lupercalia included. In Ancient Greece there was also a similar holiday, named after the god Pan - Panurgia. By the way, if you read or watched the series “The Countess de Monsoreau”, based on the novel of the same name by Dumas, then Goranflo’s father’s donkey was called Panurge. So one of the nicknames of the god Pan, the patron saint of shepherds and cattle breeding, was Luperk (“lupus” - wolf). Hence the name Lupercalii. But! Hence the name of the Roman brothels - Lupanariev. More precisely, not from here - it’s just a homonym, but it’s a funny coincidence. How do you see the picture?)

A story about Valentine's Day

But there is a second point. In 496, Pope Gelasius I banned Lupercalia. Over time, it was replaced by Valentine's Day. And it happened like this. In 269 AD, Emperor Claudius II lacked soldiers for his military campaigns. The reason was that the warriors thought more about their families, the wives left at home or the girls they were going to marry, and fought poorly. To this end, the emperor banned marriages for Roman legionnaires. But people tend to fall in love - so marriages began to be concluded secretly, and the wedding ceremony was performed by a priest named Valentin, for which he later paid with his life, this happened on February 14th. However, the story is dark - someone claims that Valentine was executed by the emperor for refusing to renounce Christ, and someone that there were already 3 Valentines is a priest, bishop of Interamna (the ancient name of the modern Italian city of Terni) and a certain martyr, executed in Africa, which was then a Roman province. For the holiday in honor of one of these Valentines, Lupercalia was decently replaced.

As for the so-called “Valentines” - love notes - there are also 2 versions. The first says that St. Valentine sent a letter to the jailer’s blind daughter, who, while trying to read it, regained her sight. The second version is that the author of the “Valentines” is the Duke of Orleans, who in 1415, while in prison, escaped boredom and sent love letters to his wife. The wife's name was Valentina Visconti. Well, her husband actually cheated on her with everyone, including the wife of his own brother, King Charles VI.

In 1969, the Catholic Church removed Valentine from the list of saints who must be commemorated in the liturgy. But his day is celebrated in national holidays.

Valentine's Day or Valentine's Day, the most romantic holiday, is celebrated in most countries of the world on February 14 - on this day, for more than one and a half thousand years, people have declared their love to each other.

It is curious that the celebration of the memory of St. Valentine was originally established as a veneration of his martyrdom, without any connection with the patronage of lovers.

Gradually, Valentine's Day turned from a Catholic holiday into a secular one. Many people celebrate this holiday with pleasure, although it is not listed on the calendar among the official holidays.

Story

Valentine's Day has existed for more than the 15th century, but according to pagan traditions, the holidays of “Love” were popular back in ancient times.

So, in Ancient Rome, on February 15, every year they celebrated the festival of abundance - Lupercalia - in honor of the god Faun (Lupercus is one of his nicknames), the patron saint of herds. And the day before Lupercalia, the holiday of the Roman goddess of marriage, motherhood and women Juno and the god Pan was celebrated.

On this day, girls wrote love letters, which they placed in a huge urn, and then the men pulled out the letters. Then each man began to court the girl whose love letter he pulled out. In ancient Greece, this holiday was called Panurgia - ritual games in honor of the god Pan (in Roman mythology - Faun) - the patron saint of herds, forests, fields and their fertility. According to mythology, Pan is a merry fellow and a rake, plays the flute beautifully and forever pursues the nymphs with his love.

There is information that this day was also called the “Bird Wedding,” since it was believed that birds formed mating pairs in the second week of the second month of the year.

Saint Valentine

There are many legends associated with the name of St. Valentine. The most beautiful and romantic of them is the story of a Christian preacher who, in 269, married legionnaires of the Roman Empire with their lovers, despite the ban of Emperor Claudius II.

To preserve the military spirit, the emperor issued a decree prohibiting legionnaires from marrying, since it was believed that a married person was thinking about how to feed his family, and not about the good of the empire and military prowess.

Saint Valentine sympathized with the lovers and tried in every possible way to help them - he reconciled quarreling lovers, composed letters for them with declarations of love, gave flowers to young spouses and secretly married soldiers. Claudius II, having learned about this, ordered the priest to be thrown into prison, and soon signed a decree on his execution. The last days of St. Valentine’s life are also shrouded in an aura of romance.

According to legend, the blind daughter of a jailer fell in love with him, but Valentine, as a priest who had taken a vow of celibacy, could not respond to her feelings. However, on the night before his execution on February 13, he wrote her a touching letter, where he told her about his love. And the girl, having read the message after the execution of the priest, received her sight.

It is assumed that this is where the tradition of writing love notes - “Valentines” - on Valentine's Day originates.

According to the Catholic Church, Saint Valentine actually healed a blind girl - the daughter of the dignitary Asterius, who believed in Christ and was baptized. Claudius then ordered the execution of Valentine. That is, Valentine suffered for his faith, and therefore was canonized. There is an assumption that the Church introduced Valentine's Day as a counterweight to the popular pagan holiday of Love, which could not be eradicated with the advent of Christianity.

Around this time, a legend appeared to explain why St. Valentine patronizes lovers.

One way or another, two hundred years later Valentine was proclaimed a Saint, the patron saint of all lovers.

However, in 1969, as a result of the reform of worship, St. Valentine was removed from the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church. The basis for this was the fact that there is no information about this martyr, except for the name and information about beheading by the sword.

Valentine's card

The very first Valentine's card in the world is considered to be a note sent by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife from the Tower of London, where he was imprisoned in 1415.

Valentine cards were very popular in the 18th century, especially in England. They were exchanged as gifts. The lovers made cards from multi-colored paper and signed them with colorful ink. By the beginning of the 20th century, as printing technology improved, handwritten cards were replaced by printed ones. Today, on Valentine's Day, it is customary to give each other valentines in the form of hearts, with declarations of love, marriage proposals, or just jokes. People also like to hold weddings and get married on this day.

Traditions

In Europe, this holiday has been widely celebrated since the 13th century. In England, they used to carve wooden “love spoons” and give them to their loved ones. They were decorated with hearts, keys and keyholes, which symbolized that the path to the heart was open.

Louis XVI is considered to be the founder of the tradition of giving red roses to lovers, who presented such a bouquet to Marie Antoinette. According to legend, Aphrodite stepped on a bush of white roses and stained the roses with her blood, which is how red roses appeared.

According to ancient custom, in England and Scotland on the eve of the holiday dedicated to St. Valentine, young people put tickets with the names of young girls written on them in an urn. Then everyone took out one ticket.

The girl whose name went to the young man became his “Valentina” for the coming year, and he became her “Valentine”. This meant that a relationship arose between the young people for a year, similar to those that, according to the descriptions of medieval novels, arose between a knight and his “lady of the heart.”

According to legend, in Britain, on February 14, unmarried girls get up before sunrise, stand near the window and look at passing men - the first man they see is their betrothed. Italians call February 14 a sweet day and give sweets and candies. Valentine cards are sent by mail in a pink envelope without a return address. In romantic Denmark, they usually send dried white flowers to each other, and in Spain, sending a love message with a carrier pigeon is considered the height of passion.

In France, it is customary to give jewelry on Valentine's Day. On Valentine's Day, the French also hold various romantic competitions. For example, the competition for the longest serenade - a love song - is very popular. And it was in France that the epistle-quatrain was first written.

In Japan, on Valentine's Day, which began to be celebrated in the 30s of the 20th century, it is customary to give men chocolate - usually in the form of a figure of St. Valentine. This is not so much a declaration of love as a sign of attention. The tradition of giving sweets on this day appeared at the suggestion of one large chocolate manufacturing company. In addition, the Japanese hold a competition for the loudest and brightest love message. Boys and girls climb onto the platform and shout from there about their love.

Valentine's Day has been celebrated in the United States since 1777. The tradition of giving gifts on this day grew stronger every year and for some it became a fairly successful business. At the beginning of the 19th century, Americans began the custom of giving marzipan figurines to their loved ones on this day. And marzipan in those days was considered a great luxury.

In the post-Soviet space, people first paid attention to Valentine's Day about two decades ago. And only in recent years have they been celebrated en masse with valentines, congratulations and declarations of love.

Valentine's Day is also celebrated in Georgia, despite the fact that the country has its own Love Day, which is celebrated on April 15.

It is curious that Georgian Love Day was once introduced as an alternative to Valentine's Day, the tradition of celebrating which came to the newly independent states from Western countries. Romantic Georgians, like many other countries where they have their own alternative Day of Love, today celebrate both holidays, according to the principle, the more the better. But there are countries in the world where the Day of Love is taboo. First of all, this is Saudi Arabia, which is the only country in the world where this holiday is officially banned, and under pain of heavy fines.

Some people love this holiday more than the New Year, others ignore it on principle. But everyone knows about Valentine's Day. Lovely valentines, tokens of attention, flowers and sweets - we prepare all this with trepidation for our loved ones. But not everyone knows where it came from; some are not even aware of the existence of alternative versions.

The Origin of Valentine's Day - Basic Version

One of the most popular versions of the history of the origin of Valentine's Day is considered to be the secret wedding of lovers by a priest. The Roman emperor Claudius II lived around the third century BC and was known as an ardent opponent of marriage unions. The fact is that he perceived marriage and family as an obstacle to his plans to conquer new lands; the legionnaires had to be free.

But, despite this ban, Valentine continued to marry all lovers. For such disobedience, he was thrown into prison and later sentenced to death. It turned out that the jailer's daughter and Valentin met and fell in love. While in the cell, he communicated with his passion through notes. And the very last one, just before his execution, he signed “from Valentin”. This version of where Valentine's Day originated is still considered the most plausible. But there are several alternative options.

The Origins of Valentine's Day - Alternative Versions

According to another version, Valentin, already familiar to us, fell in love with the daughter of the prison warden. Her name was Julia and the girl was blind. On the last day before his execution, Valentin wrote her a letter and put yellow saffron in it. After the girl received the note and took saffron from the envelope, she was healed.

Moreover, several saints were known under the name “Valentine”. One of them was executed in 269, it was a Roman priest. Also famous in his time, Valentin was the bishop of Interamna. This man is known for his healing abilities, but he was executed because he converted the son of the mayor to Christianity.

There is a legend according to which the history of Valentine's Day goes back much deeper and begins all the way back to pagan times. According to this version, this day was originally the holiday of Lupercalia. A day of frank eroticism and abundance, which was dedicated to the patron god of the herds of Faun in Ancient Rome. On this day, it was customary to write notes and put them in a small container. The girls wrote the notes, and the boys took them out: whose note the young man took out, he was supposed to court that girl that day.

How do you spend Valentine's Day?

A small heart-shaped card is rightfully considered an obligatory attribute of this holiday. It is believed that the Duke of Orleans sent the first Valentine's card to his wife while in captivity. Out of melancholy, he began to write messages to his beloved wife, filled with love and confessions.

Today, such postcards have long been sold in every bookstore. There are small and cute ones, and there are huge ones with texts and beautiful poems. The day of love would be incomplete without flowers and sweets. Today it is customary to give roses and chocolate. This is a traditional symbol for lovers.

As for the traditions of celebration, there are many scenarios here. Of course, the most suitable among them consists of flowers, a romantic dinner and walks under the stars, it will always be relevant. But many entertainment venues offer excellent options for young people. For example, on this day many clubs organize themed parties. City authorities sometimes prepare a surprise for their residents and set up a stage on the main street of the city. And many couples try to set their wedding day on this date.