Valentine’s Day is celebrated by millions around the world every year, but unlike other holidays like Halloween or Christmas its exact origins are less clear.
Many believe that it was originally a day honoring Saint Valentine, a man who according to legend illegally ministered to Christians and performed marriage ceremonies for couples before eventually being arrested and beheaded by the Roman Emperor Aurelian.
However, the truth of what happened is hard to determine not only because there are very few records that corroborate the legends about Saint Valentine, but because there are multiple legends that contradict each other.
The main source of the confusion is that there were at least three different historical individuals who were referred to as Saint Valentine, but the details of their respective lives and deaths largely remain a mystery. Some evidence suggests that Valentine’s Day wasn’t initially about love or romance at all and instead may have merely been a celebration of the advent of spring.
By the 1400s, the tradition of exchanging gifts with someone you considered your “valentine” had been established, though it is unclear if these exchanges were always romantic in nature.
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Various Valentine’s Day traditions became more common in Europe as the middle ages came to an end and over time it became unambiguously associated with romantic love and couples.
The tradition of exchanging Valentine’s Day cards originated in England in the 1700s, and Valentine’s Day traditions were likewise common in the US even after the Revolutionary War.
But it wasn’t until the 1840s that it began to resemble the holiday that we recognize today.
During the 1700s most cards were hand made, but in the 1800s entrepreneurs like Esther Howland began to mass produce more elaborate cards in large numbers, which in turn greatly increased the popularity of Valentine’s Day.
Some joke that Valentine’s Day was invented by Hallmark to sell cards, and while that’s not strictly accurate there are elements of truth there; given how Valentine’s Day cards changed over time from a quaint little tradition to a massive business. Even back in the 1800s there were already complaints about the holiday becoming overly commercialized.
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Despite this it is still enjoyed by many as a celebration of romance and love, and there are countless variations that still have the same spirit at heart.
Even in places like China that don’t have Valentine’s Day they still have their own holiday of love, the Qixi Festival, a roughly equivalent tradition that also celebrates the emotional intimacy people have with each other.
Erik Larson, reporter
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