Where does the tradition of gifting chocolate on Valentine’s Day come from? Image: Freepix
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he true story behind the establishment of Valentine’s Day is somewhat of a mystery, with a number of tales and interpretations being shared over the years. The day gets its name from a famous saint, Saint Valentine, but the origins of the day itself are somewhat disputed. Many believe he was a priest during the time of the Roman Empire during the third century AD. Emperor Claudius II who was the ruler at the time, decided to ban marriage because he felt married men made for bad soldiers. Valentine felt that this was not a fair rule and so he arranged and performed marriages in secret, breaking the rules. When Valentine was found out, he was sentenced and thrown into jail. It is believed that while he was waiting for execution and serving his jail term, he fell in love with the daughter of the jailer. When he was taken for execution on the 14th of February he wrote her one final love letter and signed it, ‘from your Valentine’ and hence forth, Valentine’s
day was born. Some believe that the earliest Valentine’s Day dates back all the way to the year 496 and that Valentine’s Day emerged out of the Roman spring time festival, Lupercalia, which was held in the middle of February as a way of marking the beginning of spring. There were numerous ways people celebrated Lupercalia, but one of the celebrations was believed to involve single boys drawing the names of single girls from a box. The pair would then couple up and become boyfriend and girlfriend for the time of the festival and some would then subsequently marry. When the church decided they wanted the festival to be linked to religion, they decided to name it as a way of commemorating Saint Valentine. Eventually people began to use this festival, St Valentine as a dedicated day to express their feelings and love for one another and so Valentine’s Day was born. The truth about Valentine’s Day can only ever be surmised, but in 2022,
Valentine’s is a holiday and a celebration of love and giving that is recognised all over the world. People celebrate the day in different ways but traditionally gifts of chocolate and flowers are exchanged alongside loving notes and cards. But where do the traditions of Valentine’s chocolate, flowers and cards come from? Many believe that the very first Valentine’s card was sent in 1415 in France. In this romantic story, Charles, the Duke of Orleans sent love letters to his wife whilst imprisoned. It is believed that the first-ever Valentine’s Day card originated in France, when Charles, the Duke of Orleans, sent love letters to his wife from the prison in 1415. Within the poem he refers to his wife as “My very gentle Valentine”, giving him the title as the writer and poet behind the first Valentine card, in a manner of speaking.
