Where did Valentines day celebration come from?

Question

We enjoyed learning about easter, so where did they get the idea for Valentines day. Didn't know there was so many knowledeable people out there on holidays.

Answer 1

The first interpretation has this celebration originating as a pagan tradition in the third century. During this time hordes of hungry wolves roamed outside of Rome where shepherds kept their flocks. The God Lupercus, was said to watch over the shepherds and their flocks and keep them from the wolves. Every February the Romans celebrated a feast called Lupercalia to honor Lupercus so that no harm would come to the shepherds and their flocks. Also during Lupercalia, but in honor of the goddess Juno Februata, the names of young women were put into a box and names were drawn by lot. The boys and girls who were matched would be considered partners for the year, which began in March. This celebration continued long after wolves were a problem to Rome.
As Christianity became prevalent, priests attempted to replace old heathen practices. To Christianize the ancient pagan celebration of the Feast of Lubercus, the church officials changed the name to St. Valentine's Day. To give the celebration further meaning and eliminate pagan traditions, priests substituted the drawing of Saints names for the names of the girls. On St. Valentine's Day the priest placed saint's names into an urn or box. The young people then drew a name from the container. In the following year, the youth was supposed to emulate the life of the saint whose name he had drawn.
By the fourteenth century they reverted back to the use of girl's names. In the sixteenth century they once again tried to have saintly valentines but it was as unsuccessful as the first attempt.

Considering all the pagonism connected with Valentines Day, Christians should have nothing to do with it. The only thing we should celebrate is the Lords Evening Meal, which Jesus commanded his followers to keep doing in remembrance of him. (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:25)

Answer 2

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre. It involved gangster's back in the day of Al Capone.

Earliest origin, however, is paegan.

The Story behind St. Valentines Day is a fascinating one. Although February 14th is celebrated as a lovers' holiday today, with the giving of candy, flowers, Valentine's Day card and other gifts between couples in love, it originated as a tribute to St. Valentine, a Catholic bishop.
As early as the fourth century B.C., the Romans engaged in an annual young man's rite of passage to the god Lupercus. It's earliest orgin was the Roman festival Lupercalia, observed on Feb. 15. Lupercalia celebrated the coming of Spring on the Roman calendar. Lupercalia became a celebration intended to ensure the fertility of flocks, fields and people.
The names of the teenage women were placed in a box and drawn at random by adolescent men; thus, a man was assigned a woman companion (a sexual partner) for the duration of the year, after which another lottery was staged. After eight hundred years of this cruel practice, the early church fathers sought to end this practice.

This would be where rascal's story begins...

Answer 3

As Christianity became prevalent, priests attempted to replace old heathen practices. To Christianize the ancient pagan celebration of the Feast of Lubercus, the church officials changed the name to St. Valentine's Day. To give the celebration further meaning and eliminate pagan traditions, priests substituted the drawing of Saints names for the names of the girls. On St. Valentine's Day the priest placed saint's names into an urn or box. The young people then drew a name from the container. In the following year, the youth was supposed to emulate the life of the saint whose name he had drawn.

Answer 4

Saint Valentine's Day or Valentine's Day falls on February 14. It is the traditional day on which lovers let each other know about their love by sending Valentine's cards, which are often anonymous. The holiday is named after two men named Valentine, both Christian martyrs. The day became associated with romantic love in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

The day is now most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of "valentines". Modern Valentine symbols include the heart-shaped outline and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, the practice of hand writing notes has largely given way to the exchange of mass-produced greeting cards. The Greeting Card Association estimates that, world-wide, approximately one billion valentines are sent each year, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. The association also estimates that women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.

In the United States, the marketing of Valentines Day has tagged it as a "Hallmark holiday".

St. Valentine the many
February 14 was traditionally dedicated to two ancient martyrs named Valentine.[2] They are listed in early martyrologies under the date of February 14, which suggests that this is the date of their deaths.[3] There is a third St. Valentine from Africa who was also martyred on February 14, but he didn't get a saint's day. There is very little information about any these Valentines that can be considered historically accurate. The Valentines honored on February 14 are:

Valentine of Rome (Valentinus presb. m. Romae): a priest in Rome who suffered martyrdom about AD 269 and is buried on the Via Flaminia. His relics are at the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome [4] and at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland.
Valentine of Terni (Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae): He became bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) 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. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni (Basilica di San Valentino).
Some sources say the Valentine linked to romance is Valentine of Rome, others say Valentine of Terni. The Bollandists have concluded that the two were originally the same person.

The name Valentine comes from the Latin word valor, meaning worthy.[5] The Catholic Church formally recognized a total of eleven Valentine's days. Besides February 14, these include January 7, May 2, July 16, August 31, September 2, October 25, November 1 and November 3, November 11 November 13, and December 16. Valentin Faustino Berri Ochoa, whose saint's day is November 1, lived in the nineteenth century. The other Valentines lived in ancient or early medieval times. The Orthodox Church recognizes a somewhat different list of Valentine's days[6]. Although no connection between St. Valentine and love is mentioned in any early account, there are several later legends that make such a connection. See Medieval and modern times

The Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints (known as the Roman Martyrology) was revised in 1969 so that all of the Valentine's days were officially dropped. The liturgical Feast of St. Valentine is now restricted to the diocese of Rome. For the global Catholic Church, February 14 is the Feast of Ss. Cyril and Methodius.

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A Gnostic Valentine
Far more prominent historically than any of the Saint Valentines is Valentinius of Alexandria (c. 100 - c. 153). He was an influential Gnostic teacher a candidate for Bishop of Rome in 143.[7] In his teachings, the marriage bed assumed a central place in his version of Christian love, an emphasis sharply in contrast with the asceticism of mainstream Christianity. Stephan A. Hoeller assesses Valentinius on the subject: "In addition to baptism, anointing, eucharist, the initiation of priests and the rites of the dying, the Valentinian Gnosis mentions prominently two great and mysterious sacraments called 'redemption' (apolytrosis) and 'bridal chamber' respectively."[8].

Answer 5

Valentine’s Day actually started more than 1,500 years ago.

According to legend, Valentine was a priest who defied the orders of the Roman emperor Claudius and continued to perform marriages. It seems that Claudius realized no young men wanted to join his army because they didn’t want to leave their wives and sweethearts. When it was discovered that Valentine was still performing marriages in secret, he was sentenced to death. Valentine allegedly cured the jailer’s daughter of blindness, and on the night before his execution, sent a note to her signed “from your Valentine.” He reportedly died on Feb. 14, 269 A.D.

In 496 A.D., February 14 was named by Pope Gelasius to honor St. Valentine.

The first Valentines are credited to Charles, Duke of Orleans, who was imprisoned in the Tower of London during the 1400s where he wrote romantic verses that he sent to his wife.

A woman named Esther Howland is credited with sending the first Valentine in the United States.

The United States Postal Service is credited with advancing the popularity of sending Valentines when the penny postcard was introduced in the mid 1800s. Before that, sending mail was too expensive for the average person, because at the time, the person who RECEIVED the letter paid the postage and not the person who SENT the letter.

Answer 6

Cupid's arrow pierces a coronary heart with amorous thoughts. It skill their coronary heart has been pierced through Cupid's arrow and those thoughts they now have are for you. Technically, Cupid should not be targeted on Valentine's Day as a results of the undeniable fact that is celebrated. Cupid (or Eros) is the god of actual love (or lust), Venus (Aphrodite) being the god of emotional love. Being struck through Cupid's arrow might want to intend that individual might want to be in lust with whomever they first said after being struck. Getting a Valentine as you defined might want to then mean that individual had to ravish you. Edit: in case you do not imagine i have spoke back your question, then you have not study my first paragraph properly.

Answer 7

there's a saint called valentine...
and he send a message and a rose to her girlfriend before he died at Febuary 14....

Answer 8

lupcila..roman holiday 1000yr ago..despite people believe it came from the saint ..Valentine