how did st. valentines day originate?

Answer 1

The origins of Valentine's Day trace back to the ancient Roman celebration of Lupercalia. Held on February 15, Lupercalia honored the gods Lupercus and Faunus, as well as the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. In addition to a bountiful feast, Lupercalia festivities are purported to have included the pairing of young women and men. Men would draw women's names from a box, and each couple would be paired until next year's celebration.

While this pairing of couples set the tone for today's holiday, it wasn't called "Valentine's Day" until a priest named Valentine came along. Valentine, a romantic at heart, disobeyed Emperor Claudius II's decree that soldiers remain bachelors.

Claudius handed down this decree believing that soldiers would be distracted and unable to concentrate on fighting if they were married or engaged. Valentine defied the emperor and secretly performed marriage ceremonies. As a result of his defiance, Valentine was put to death on February 14. After Valentine's death, he was named a saint. As Christianity spread through Rome, the priests moved Lupercalia from February 15 to February 14 and renamed it St. Valentine's Day to honor Saint Valentine.

Answer 2

Valentine's Day - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaSaint Valentine's Day or Valentine's Day falls on February 14. ... The first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is in Parlement of ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine's_Day - 62k - Cached - Similar pages

The History of Valentine's DayThe history of Valentine's Day -- and its patron saint -- is shrouded in mystery. But we do know that February has long been a month of romance. ...
www.history.com/minisites/valentine

Answer 3

hmm look in the name ST VALENTINES ..its the day of his feast he is associated with secretly marrying people, but also befor that pagan romans would have a fertility feast where men would pick out wives.