By Wingspan Staff
Have you ever wondered how Valentine's day started? Have you ever considered the reason why we have a day of love? Well let me tell you all you need to know about the season of love, known as Valentine’s.
It started with a Christian priest named Valentine, in third century Rome, where Christian priests were killed, because Rome had their own religion. Valentine was martyred, which means he was killed under Roman law. He was martyred on February 14. That’s not all though. There are legends that Valentine could do special things. When he was in jail, waiting to be executed, he healed one of the guards blind daughters, which is pretty cool if you ask me. He wrote a note saying goodbye to her, and it was signed, “From your Valentine”. But then he was forgotten for 1500 years. But here's where things start to get interesting. The Romans had a holiday called Lupercalia, which was a party celebrating the start of spring, and boy do I want a day off like that. But, let's get back to the story. In Rome then, Christianity was now not only legal, but now it was the official religion of Rome. The Pope was now the best person around, and he wanted to get rid of Lupercalia. So what he did was he got rid of Lupercalia, and changed it to a name that you might remember. Can you guess what it is? If you said, St. Valentine’s day, you're correct! Now, St. Valentine’s day was not so different from Lupercalia, it was feasting and praying and everyone having a good time. Now we are going to travel to England. 1400 thousand years later and here we are. It’s February 14th in England, and it is the bird's mating season. I don’t know why it is right in the middle of cold harsh weather, but maybe it was different from here. So anyway, February 14th is mating season for birds, and a guy named Geoffrey Chaucer writes a poem about a royal wedding. He wrote that it was very romantic that there was a wedding on the day of mating birds, and blooming flowers, it was a great time to be alive. That’s how Valentine’s day was born. You see, his poem was a big hit, and he got very famous. Lots of people thought it was a good idea to change the meaning of Valentine’s day to be about peace and love. People started writing cards for other people, and pretty much having a good time. Then, in the industrial revolution, some cards were printed with cupids, hearts, and pretty much all of the "lovey dovey" stuff that make people happy. Then, people started to make heart shaped boxes filled with, you guessed it, chocolate! And that became so popular that, well, now we celebrate it today. That’s all for today's article, I hope you enjoyed, and happy Valentine’s day!
