For those with significant others this is a major holiday. Completely massive, filled with love and hearts, flowers and chocolates, sex and romance. Or a huge fight because your significant other completely spaced it was Valentine's Day and got you absolutely nothing.
If you are completely unattached this is generally the suckiest day of your year. Why? Because it only seems to amplify the fact that you are completely alone, unattractive, unloved. Unless you enjoy being single and are totally okay with being alone on the most "romantic" holiday of the year.
But how did this holiday start up? Did it always have cute chubby babies with wings flying around and shooting people with heart shaped arrows? Did it always have a shit-ton of cards and chocolate being sold for ridiculous prices that we pay to satisfy loved ones? I think not.
There are many legends surrounding St. Valentine and who he might have been. In Catholic tradition there are three St. Valentines, all of whom were martyred during the early AD. The most popular reason for St. Valentine's death is that he helped young couples marry during a time when marriage had essentially been outlawed by the emperor.
The real reason for St. Valentine's Day though, probably stems from Lupercalia, a Roman holiday of both fertility and matchmaking. During Lupercalia (which started on the 15th of February) young women would put their names into an urn and bachelors would pick out a name. Whomever they picked they were paired with during the festival. Sometimes this lead to being paired for a year, sometimes it lead to marriage.
However, as was the case for most holidays during that time, Lupercalia was deemed Pagan by the church and Christians were forbidden from participating. The "Roman Lottery" was banned during the Medieval period as being un-Christian. In hopes of finding a holiday fit for Christians to celebrate, the church did what I call "Sprucing up the Bum".
The church takes the essence of a pagan holiday (for example "love") and adds some Christian figures here and there and next thing you know it has been turned into a Christian Holiday. Essentially taking a dirty bum off the street and putting a big red bow on his head and declaring him a Christian.
All of that still does not explain why we send cards and candy to one another during this day. Or why a chubby baby is associated with it.
It is believed that the first Valentine was sent by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife. It is the oldest known Valentine, a poem written in 1415, sent while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
St. Valentine's Day was quite popular during the Middle Ages, the era of Courtly Love and Medieval Romance. And during that time little tokens or "Valentines" were sent. Sometimes they were little cards or small rings or other small items. This tradition continued to the 18th century when the first printed cards were made. I'm assuming candy just came in where the small rings and other such items left off.
The chubby baby that we see floating around during this time is supposed to be Cupid, the son of Venus (goddess of Love) and Mars (god of War) (at least in Roman Mythology), the god of Desire, Erotic Love (hence sometimes being called Eros) and Affection. He is almost always portrayed as either a nude young man or a nude baby, though there are portrayals of him as a handsome man in his twenties. He was known to shoot golden arrows to inspire romantic love and be quite mischievous.
The most common myth about Cupid is that he was ordered by Venus to cause a young woman, named Psyche, to fall in love with something/someone vile. While trying to do this Cupid was scratched by his own golden arrow and fell deeply in love with Psyche. After that he visited her every night, but forbade her to look at his face. One night she could resist the temptation no longer and gazed upon his face, angering the god so that he left. Psyche, in love with him, searched everywhere for him so that Jupiter (also known as Zeus) gave her immortality so that she and Cupid could be together forever.
Ever since then Cupid has been associated with this holiday as a bringer of love and desire. Piercing many hearts with his golden arrows.
But you want to know my favorite part of this holiday?
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre!
In 1929 on February 14th, 7 men were gunned down in a garage, all but one were killed instantly and the only man still living died three hours later, saying absolutely nothing useful. It is believed that this crime was perpetuated by Al Capone, although he had a fairly solid alibi for the time. Why Al Capone you may ask? Because the men that were gunned down were members (or past time members) of Bugs Moran's gang, a rival to Al Capone.
But the truth of the matter is, no one actually knows who killed these guys or why. There are a lot of assumptions and ideas, but nothing concrete. Everyone who was thought to be involved either died or was cleared by Chicago police. Who doesn't love a good mystery and bloody massacre on their romantic holiday?
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