How did February become associated with Hearts, Flowers and Valentines? (Repost)

(This is a repost from 2/1/14 with some changed graphics)

So, who was St. Valentine, and why do we celebrate him every February 14 with hearts and flowers? Well, to answer that question we have to go back to the Roman Emperor, Claudius II, commonly known as Claudius Gothicus.

Claudius reigned from 268 to 270.  Not a long reign, but a bloody one, because Claudius liked to wage war a lot.  During his two years, he fought successfully against the Alamanni and scored a crushing victory against the Goths at the Battle of Naissus.  It is possible Claudius gained his position and the respect of the soldiers by being physically strong and especially cruel. A legend tells of Claudius knocking out a horse's teeth with one punch. When Claudius performed as a wrestler in the 250s, he supposedly knocked out the teeth of his opponent when his genitalia had been grabbed in the match.

But I digress.... As legend has it, in the 3rd century, Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, so, he outlawed marriage for young men (as soldiers were sparse at this time and he needed men to serve fearlessly in the army without the distraction of a wife or girlfriend making them homesick). However, Valentine, a priest serving near Rome, recognized the injustice of this decree and defied Claudius by continuing to perform marriages for young lovers in secret.. He was caught and imprisoned. While in prison, so the story goes, he may have fallen in love with the daughter of his jailer, and wrote her a letter signed "From your Valentine." He was beheaded on February 14, around 270 A.D., and Pope Gelasius declared St. Valentine's Day around 498 A.D.

So, Valentine was a true romantic at heart.  But how did the heart become linked with emotion? In China, the heart is related to thought, life, and emotions. It brings together everything from understanding and recognition to the flow of emotions. The Romans thought the heart contained the soul. Before them, ancient Egyptians believed the heart to be the center of emotions — and intellect. And before them all... pictures on cave walls depicted animals with red hearts in the center of their bodies — evidence that even cave dwellers understood the heart's significance.

However, the symbol we now associate as a heart, really doesn't look much like the human heart at all. That leads us to ask how we arrived at such a symbol to begin with.  According to Symbols.com (http://www.symbols.com/symbol/1809) "Specific suggestions include: the shape of the seed of the silphium plant, used in ancient times as an herbal contraceptive, and stylized depictions of features of the human female body, such as the female's buttocks, pubic mound, or spread vulva. A heart is not the only symbol for love."

Hmm.  Not sure the female buttocks to represent St. Valentine was what the church had in mind at all. And, since the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred, we may ask why do we associate February 14 with St. Valentine's Day?  Though some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial--others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to "Christianize" the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

Romulus and Remus being suckled by the she wolf

The Roman festival began with members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, gathering at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. Once everyone was present, the priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat's hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. (Lovely, right?) Far from being fearful of the bloody whippings, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.

Fertility and marriage, a good combination.  Yup, that story makes me want to hop right into the car and buy a box of candy and a dozen roses.  You, too?

Back to history.  Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity and but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”--at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius (remember him?) declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds' mating season, which added to the idea that Valentine's Day should be a day for romance.

And we return again to the hearts and flowers decorating the greeting cards of Valentine's Day. Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written valentines didn't begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. (I'm not sure what he wrote, exactly, but his poem is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

Cards decorated with black and white pictures painted by factory workers began to be created in the early 1800s; by the end of the century, valentines were being made entirely by machine. Sociologists theorize that printed cards began to take the place of letters, particularly in Great Britain, because they were an easy way for people to express their feelings in a time when direct expression of emotions was not fashionable.

Manufactured cards notwithstanding, increasingly beautiful handmade Valentines were often small works of art, richly decorated with silk, satin or lace, flowers or feathers and even gold leaf. And many featured Cupid, the cherubic, be-winged son of Venus, and a natural Valentine's Day "mascot." Though Venus, Cupid and Psyche's story is too long to go into here, suffice it to say after many trials and errors they end up happily-ever-after, and we continue to celebrate their successful union in our Valentine's greetings today.

How did February become associated with Hearts, Flowers and Valentines?

So, who was St. Valentine, and why do we celebrate him every February 14 with hearts and flowers? Well, to answer that question we have to go back to the Roman Emperor, Claudius II, commonly known as Claudius Gothicus.

Claudius reigned from 268 to 270.  Not a long reign, but a bloody one, because Claudius liked to wage war a lot.  During his two years, he fought successfully against the Alamanni and scored a crushing victory against the Goths at the Battle of Naissus.  It is possible Claudius gained his position and the respect of the soldiers by being physically strong and especially cruel. A legend tells of Claudius knocking out a horse's teeth with one punch. When Claudius performed as a wrestler in the 250s, he supposedly knocked out the teeth of his opponent when his genitalia had been grabbed in the match.

But I digress.... As legend has it, in the 3rd century, Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, so, he outlawed marriage for young men (as soldiers were sparse at this time and he needed men to serve fearlessly in the army without the distraction of a wife or girlfriend making them homesick). However, Valentine, a priest serving near Rome, recognized the injustice of this decree and defied Claudius by continuing to perform marriages for young lovers in secret.. He was caught and imprisoned. While in prison, so the story goes, he may have fallen in love with the daughter of his jailer, and wrote her a letter signed "From your Valentine." He was beheaded on February 14, around 270 A.D., and Pope Gelasius declared St. Valentine's Day around 498 A.D.

So, Valentine was a true romantic at heart.  But how did the heart become linked with emotion? In China, the heart is related to thought, life, and emotions. It brings together everything from understanding and recognition to the flow of emotions. The Romans thought the heart contained the soul. Before them, ancient Egyptians believed the heart to be the center of emotions — and intellect. And before them all... pictures on cave walls depicted animals with red hearts in the center of their bodies — evidence that even cave dwellers understood the heart's significance.

However, the symbol we now associate as a heart, really doesn't look much like the human heart at all. That leads us to ask how we arrived at such a symbol to begin with.  According to Symbols.com (http://www.symbols.com/symbol/1809) "Specific suggestions include: the shape of the seed of the silphium plant, used in ancient times as an herbal contraceptive, and stylized depictions of features of the human female body, such as the female's buttocks, pubic mound, or spread vulva. A heart is not the only symbol for love."

Hmm.  Not sure the female buttocks to represent St. Valentine was what the church had in mind at all. And, since the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred, we may ask why do we associate February 14 with St. Valentine's Day?  Though some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial--others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to "Christianize" the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

Romulus and Remus being suckled by the she wolf

The Roman festival began with members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, gathering at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. Once everyone was present, the priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat's hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. (Lovely, right?) Far from being fearful of the bloody whippings, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.

Fertility and marriage, a good combination.  Yup, that story makes me want to hop right into the car and buy a box of candy and a dozen roses.  You, too?

Back to history.  Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity and but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”--at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius (remember him?) declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds' mating season, which added to the idea that Valentine's Day should be a day for romance.

And we return again to the hearts and flowers decorating the greeting cards of Valentine's Day. Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written valentines didn't begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. (I'm not sure what he wrote, exactly, but his poem is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

Cards decorated with black and white pictures painted by factory workers began to be created in the early 1800s; by the end of the century, valentines were being made entirely by machine. Sociologists theorize that printed cards began to take the place of letters, particularly in Great Britain, because they were an easy way for people to express their feelings in a time when direct expression of emotions was not fashionable.

Manufactured cards notwithstanding, increasingly beautiful handmade Valentines were often small works of art, richly decorated with silk, satin or lace, flowers or feathers and even gold leaf. And many featured Cupid, the cherubic, be-winged son of Venus, and a natural Valentine's Day "mascot." Though Venus, Cupid and Psyche's story is too long to go into here, suffice it to say after many trials and errors they end up happily-ever-after, and we continue to celebrate their successful union in our Valentine's greetings today.

Thoughtful Thursday - Love, Valentines, and Cupid – the "real" story

Cupid (Roman) or Eros (Greek), the god of desire, affection and erotic love, was not always the cute, playful winged cherub we envision holding a nocked and drawn bow and carrying a quiver full of golden arrows of desire and the emotions of love.  At least not in the beginning.  In the beginning, Cupid, the son of Venus (Roman) or Aphrodite (Greek), worshiped as the goddess of love and beauty, was portrayed as a young athletic youth, who was sent on a mission by his mother to use one of his golden arrows on a beautiful mortal girl named Psyche.  Now Cupid wasn't convinced his mother was being honorable to send him on this task which would mean, after he's touched her with his mighty golden arrow, Psyche will awaken to fall in love with the vile monster Venus plans to place in bed with her.

Venus, a  jealous deity and not a particularly good mother, definitely does not play fair in matters of beauty.  Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, Cupid takes pity on the woman "who was born too beautiful for her own safety," and turns himself invisible as he prepares to scratch Psyche's shoulder with the tip of one of his arrows.  Instead she awakens and looks directly at him, despite the fact he is invisible, and he is so surprised he scratches himself with the arrow when he draws back from her.  Since he is not immune to his own powers, he falls instantly in love with the gorgeous mortal girl.

Of course, mummy isn't at all pleased by this turn of events, since she was already jealous of Psyche, and now Psyche has claimed the heart of her son.  So, Venus makes sure the road of love for this female Cupid has fallen for is rocky indeed, putting many "impossible to scale" boulders in Psyche's path, metaphorically speaking.  True love does eventually win out with a little help from Jupiter, who declares it is his will that Cupid and Psyche marry.  As King of the Gods, Jupiter rules supreme and after her marriage Psyche is made immortal with a drink of ambrosia.  So, they all lived happily ever after, sort of.  Although Psyche and Venus will never be BFFs, they begrudgingly forgive each other, or so the story says.  Talk about impossible to get along with Mother-in-laws.  Cupid and Psyche end up having a daughter, Voluptas (Roman) Hedone (Greek) who becomes the goddess of sensual pleasures.  This is where we get voluptuous and hedonistic.  I guess it all ties together sort of, doesn't it?

For more about Cupid and Psyche's epic trials read the entry in Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid_and_Psyche

So, Cupid, along with his quiver of golden arrows, has long been associated with love and the pangs of desire.  Today, Cupid and his bow and arrows are practically synonymous with romance, and love is most frequently depicted by two hearts pierced by an arrow.  Yup, that's Cupid's arrow all right.

Valentine's Day, however, is named after Saint Valentine, who is associated with love thanks to Chaucer and some other poets who wrote odes and epic poems extolling the virtues of courtly love.  According to Wikipedia again, "The celebration of Saint Valentine didn't have any romantic connotations until Chaucer's poetry about "Valentines" in the 14th century."  So, why did Chaucer pick on poor Val for this honor?  Valentine was a Christian martyr.  Below is what History.com says about his connection at http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day:

"According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first "valentine" greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl--possibly his jailor's daughter--who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed "From your Valentine," an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and--most importantly--romantic figure. By the Middle Ages, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine would become one of the most popular saints in England and France.

While some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial--which probably occurred around A.D. 270--others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to "Christianize" the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. 
To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat's hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage."

Now, if any of that is true it's a little scary to contemplate.  Having your potential future husband blindly draw your name from a big urn is not the best way to start a relationship in my opinion.  Hmm, it does say, however, that the matches often ended in marriage, so I guess wedded bliss was not a foregone conclusion in this ancient dating game.  Probably a good thing, although a girl could become well-used before she was matched with her husband-to-be with that kind of "pig-in-a-poke" process going on.  What happened to virtue and chaste love?  Well, I guess in the times of the Romans only the Vestal Virgins held that particular honor.

Anyway, like several Christian festivals (Easter-Esther, Christmas-Yule) to name a couple, Valentine's Day is celebrated in February to "Christianize" Lupercalia.  Hmm.  I had no idea.  But I also wasn't sure how St. Valentine was connected to the day of love either, other than by giving it his name.

So, now you know, or maybe you don't, because this is only one of many legends surrounding our day of hearts and flowers, love and romance.  Hope you had a very happy Valentine's Day.