There are as many as eight possible Valentine's Day origins. The three most likely Valentines were all church martyrs!
One was killed with a group of believers and the other two, a priest of Rome and a Bishop of Interamna, beheaded by Emperor Claudius II in 269 A.D.
"However the most likely origin of Valentine's day goes back to the Roman Lupercalia, a feast celebrating the God Lupercus. During that feast, young women would put their names into a box from which young men would draw. This matchmaking process would then enamour the two youth until the next year. Associating the matchmaking feast with the martyrdom of Valentine was convenient because the days were almost identical.
Sending love notes on Valentine's Day occurred much later. Charles Duc d' Orleans, while imprisoned in the Tower of London, supposedly wrote amorous poems and letters to his wife in 1415. Valentine love notes gradually increased in popularity until their mechanization in 1840." For more information on holiday origins
Whatever the Valentine's Day origins
- give an original gift this year
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