Every year on February 14th, couples worldwide show their love for each other with flowers, chocolates, cuddly toys, or a meal out. From January 1st, shop shelves are decked with Valentine’s gifts and cards, ready for shoppers to browse the aisles looking for that perfect gift and card to give to the one they love or to declare their love to that special someone. Valentine’s Day has also recently become the day during a leap year that women will propose to their partners.  

Yet how did Valentine’s Day become the huge thing it is today? Even though there is no exact origin for this holiday, a place we can start looking at is Ancient Rome. Here, we find the dark side of Valentine’s Day.  

From what has been discovered, Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia from 13th-15th February. During this feast, men sacrificed goats and dogs, stripped them of their hides, and then used the hides to whip the women.  

Roman romantics during this period of the feast were drunk and naked! Young women would line up for the men to hit them as they believed this ritual would make them fertile.  

As the feast took place, so did a matchmaking lottery! Young Roman men would draw a woman’s name out of a jar; whoever they picked, they would be paired with for the duration of the feast, longer if the match was perfect. 

At the time, this was a Pagan ritual based around romance, even though it was very unorthodox! It also took place around the date of our modern-day holiday, making it a good possibility as an early form of Valentine’s celebrations. 

The very name Valentine’s Day could also be down to the Ancient Romans; this time, we must thank Emperor Claudius II. He executed two men named Valentine, both on February 14th, but many years apart in the third century. Due to their executions, their martyrdom was honored by the Catholic Church, leading to ST. Valentines Day. 

As Valentine’s Day spread, it evolved. In the Fifth century, Pope Gelasius combined Valentine’s Day with Lupercalia, trying to expel pagan rituals. This only led to Christians putting clothes on! It didn’t stop it from being a day of fertility, love, and drunkenness.  

Valentine’s Day grew sweeter as the years passed; Shakespeare romanticized it in his work. This suddenly made Valentine’s Day more popular throughout Britain and Europe. Handmade cards became love tokens in the Middle Ages. 

As the Industrial Revolution started taking over, it also brought factory-made cards in the 19th century. In 1913, Hallmark began mass-producing Valentine’s Day cards. February has not been the same since! 

Today, the holiday is big business, but has the Day become too commercialized? And do we only have ourselves to blame? 

As we celebrate Valentine’s Day each in our own way, many of you will have gone the extra mile buying jewelry and flowers for the one you love. Some will celebrate in a Sad or Single Awareness Day way, dining and bingeing of self-gifted chocolates while some of us are happily sitting in singlehood in a society that wants everyone to partner up.

This was written by our contributing writer, Leah Palmer.