History of Valentines Day

Musings on the History of Valentines Day

There are several theories on the origination of Valentines Day and the date it is celebrated.

One theory is the legend of Saint Valentine or Valentinus. The Roman Emperor Claudius II was emperor in 3^rd century Rome. In an effort to enlist more soldiers into his armies which were fighting in several wars, he banned marriages. His misguided thoughts on the issue were that if men could not marry and have families, they would be more willing to become soldiers and join his armies.

Valentine was a priest at the time in Rome. He feared for the men’s souls. He rightly felt that men and women would simply live together and have children if they could not marry. So Valentine started to perform marriages in secret. Unfortunately, Claudius II found out about the secret unions and arrested the priest. While imprisoned Valentine is said by some to have cured a young girl of blindness who fell in love with him. Others say she was the daughter of a jailor. But legend has it that he wrote her a note on the eve of his execution which is said to have been signed “From Your Valentine”. Another version is that while he was in prison awaiting his death he sent letters to his friends asking to be prayed for with the statement “Remember Your Valentine. I prefer to believe the former version keeping with the romance of the holiday. Valentine was reportedly put to death February 14^th or 24^th in the year 269 or 270. Thus the date for celebrating Valentines Day. As with most saints, he achieved sainthood after his death.

Another version of the priest, Valentine is not as romantic. Rather than defying the Emperor’s decree to forbid marriages, the theory believes he was executed because he assisted prisoners that were being tortured and killed to escape the Roman prison.

Still others theorize that Valentines Day was celebrated in February, not to commemorate his death, but rather to add Christian influence to the celebration of the pagan festival, Lupercallia. Lupercallia was a Roman lottery in which all the young, single women in the city would put their names in an urn. Then the unmarried men would draw names from the urn. The woman whose name was drawn would be paired with the bachelor for the year. Considered unchristian, the lottery was outlawed. The church needed a way to smooth the ruffled feathers of the Romans who practiced the festival so the Feast Day of Saint Valentine was started which later was shortened to Valentines Day.

Adding more romance to any of these theories was the fact that in the Middle Ages England and France it was common to believe that February 14^th was the approximate date that marked the beginning of the mating season for birds.

Regardless of the origins, Valentines Day is traditionally the day of love and romance. An estimated one billion cards are sent each year, second only to Christmas.

So at The Teapot Shoppe we have put together a collection of

Valentines Day Gifts For Tea Lovers

You’ll find teapots, tea for one, gift boxed cups and saucers, coffee mugs, other tea ware in porcelain, bone china, and ceramic. We’ve included several gifts for him for Valentines Day as well.