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Q. Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. What are the roots of Valentine’s Day?

The origins A. of Valentine’s Day go back to the Roman Empire and the early days of Christianity.

There are several theories about the roots of Valentine’s Day. The first is from ancient Rome, over 2,500 years ago. The Roman festival of Lupercalia was a religious rite celebrated Feb. 13-15. The men sacrificed a goat and a dog, then “whipped” women with the hides of the animals they had just slain. These lashes of the animal hides were supposed to promote fertility in a woman. (Seipel) This somewhat brutal festival was followed by a lottery of “love.” Unmarried women put their names on paper and put them into a jar. Then, unmarried men each drew a partner for the festival from the jars. History does not recount just what the lottery entailed, but the basic idea was that they were partners for the fete and for the rest of the year. Sometimes they even got married. As with other “pagan” festivals, when Roman civilization collapsed and Christianity became prevalent, aspects of the festival were adopted by the Christians. The name drawing is remotely like the present-day custom of pulling valentines from a box.

Another influence on Valentine’s Day relates to the story of the name itself — Valentine. The legend here is that there were at least two (and some historians think more) priests named Valentine around 270 years after the birth of Christ, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius II. This was a time when Christians were being jailed for not worshiping the gods of Rome. One of the priests named Valentine was jailed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. During his imprisonment, he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter, who was blind. When he was scheduled for execution, he wrote a love letter to the girl, who miraculously recovered her eyesight and was able to read his message. This Valentine is credited with sending the first “valentine” because it was signed “From your Valentine,” an expression that is still in use today. The second priest named Valentine was executed because Emperor Claudius II believed that married soldiers were distracted by their families. He decreed that young men may not marry. Despite this law, Valentine continued to perform secret nuptials. For this, he was jailed and executed. While he was imprisoned, children passed him written notes. This is possibly one of the foundations for giving paper valentines. Legend says that both Valentines were executed on Feb. 14 in different years. Were there really two priests named Valentine? Some historians believe they were one and the same, but we may never know. However, the association with love and fertility has remained.

Centuries after the holiday was established, we began sending valentines cards to each other. 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. This valentine is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library. During the 18th century, couples in England started sending cards made of paper and lace to each other. A big change occurred around 1800 when machine printed valentines became popular. During the 1840s, mail service improved and people began sending valentines to loved ones in far-off cities. Also at this time, Esther A. Howland began selling the first massproduced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as “scrap.”

Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 145 million Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day, second to Christmas, the largest card-sending holiday of the year. (History.com)

While Valentine’s Day, historically, was a day for adults, it is now commonly celebrated by children. The library has a wide selection of children’s books celebrating Valentine’s Day. Here are a few nonfiction books:

• “The Story of Valentine’s Day” by Clyde Bulla

• “Valentine’s Day” by Dennis Fradin

• “Hearts, Cupids and Red Roses” by Edna Barth

• Fradin, D. B. (1990). “Valentine’s Day.” Enslow Publishers.

• History.com Editors. (2009, Dec. 22). History of valentine's day. History.com. Retrieved Jan. 25, from history.com/topics/valentines-day/historyof-valentines-day-2

• Seipel, A. (2011, February 13). “The dark origins of Valentine’s Day.” NPR. Retrieved Jan. 25, = from npr.org/2011/02/14/133693152/the-dark-origins-of-valentines-day

Suzanne Sanders is the new columnist for the library. She is the Community Services Manager for the San Marcos Public Library and came from the Austin Public Library in 2015 after having served there as a librarian for over 20 years. She gratefully accepts your questions for this column.