Valentine’s Day | Definition, History, & Traditions (2024)

FAQs

Valentine’s Day | Definition, History, & Traditions? ›

It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine, and through later folk traditions it has also become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world.

While the date is meant to honor Saint Valentine's death and burial, which supposedly occurred in mid-February around 270 AD, some historians believe the date could reflect the Catholic Church's attempt to replace the ancient Pagan celebration of Lupercalia — a fertility festival for the pagan agricultural god Faunus — ...

The story goes that Valentine was beheaded on February 14 in the year 269 B.C. In 498 A.D., Pope Gelasius made Valentine a saint and declared February 14 the day of his feast.

Celebrating Valentine's Day in the United States comes with multiple go-to practices. Offering a bouquet of red roses to your beloved. Purchasing a card with a heartfelt message. Sharing a candlelit meal with your partner.

Lupercalia was a major festival on the Roman calendar and was commemorated every year on February 15. It was held in honour of the gods Faunus and Lupercus, the gods of agriculture and fertility. It also honoured the mythological founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.

1 John 4:7-12. Dear friends: let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Oruch, a University of Kansas English professor, determined that Chaucer was the first to link love with St. Valentine in his 14th-century works "The Parliament of Fowls" and "The Complaint of Mars," notes the Times. Therefore, Oruch claimed, Chaucer invented Valentine's Day as we know it today.

If that works for you, do it. But the biblical pattern teaches us that romantic love between husband and wife should be on display often and much. It isn't that celebrating Valentine's Day is too much; it is too little and weak. Christians, live your married years so that you don't need Valentine's Day.

As the god of love, Cupid has come to be associated with Valentine's Day, which is believed to have originally been a pagan holiday which became Christianised. In ancient Rome people worshipped the god of love - Eros or the Romans' Cupid.

While certain elements might lead people to believe Valentine's Day is Christian, the first celebrations might have been less than holy. Some historians believe that Valentine's Day originated as a pagan festival and was later adopted by the church to honor Saint Valentine.

Who will a woman marry if she sees a robin on Valentines day? ›

Once upon a time, people believed that if a woman saw a robin on a flight on Valentine's Day, she would soon marry a sailor. If she sees a sparrow, she will marry an orphan and be very happy. But if she sees a goldfinch, it means she will marry a millionaire.

“For Muslims to abstain from Valentine's Day festivities is not merely a matter of personal choice but a religious obligation. The Quran and hadiths are the sources of Islamic guidance that do not endorse the celebration of romantic love outside the bonds of marriage,” he stated.

While the holiday's traditions really became cemented in the 1800s, historians link its roots to wild pagan revelries from before the birth of Saint Valentine himself. Read on for Valentine's Day's Roman origins, its rise as a Christian holiday and the emergence of now-familiar V-day traditions.

Valentine's Day, which is really St. Valentine's Day, is of Christian tradition. Two saints whom were imprisoned and killed for being Christians in the third century attributed to the naming of the holiday. While imprisoned, one of the saints wrote a letter to his jailer's daughter who often visited him.

While certain elements might lead people to believe Valentine's Day is Christian, the first celebrations might have been less than holy. Some historians believe that Valentine's Day originated as a pagan festival and was later adopted by the church to honor Saint Valentine.

If that works for you, do it. But the biblical pattern teaches us that romantic love between husband and wife should be on display often and much. It isn't that celebrating Valentine's Day is too much; it is too little and weak. Christians, live your married years so that you don't need Valentine's Day.