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Valentine’s Day has a fascinating history, steeped in mystery, legend and romance. Officially called Saint Valentine’s Day, there are two popular legends that may explain its origins.

The first legend holds that the Roman Emperor Claudius II needed fighters for his armies, and believed that single men made better fighters than married men; for that reason, he decided to outlaw marriage. Valentine, a priest serving at the time, conducted marriages in secret during this time. He was discovered, and put to death. While he was in prison awaiting execution, he fell in love with the jailor’s daughter, and wrote her a love letter signed “From your Valentine.” Valentine was executed around the 14th of February.

The second legend has it that a festival celebrated by Pagans in ancient Roman times was called the Lupercalia festival. The Luperci were an order of Roman priests who sacrificed a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for protection, at a sacred cave each year on the 15th of February, the beginning of the ides of February. The goat’s hide was then cut into strips that were dipped in the sacrificial blood. Women were then gently whipped with the straps, who believed that this action would make them more fertile during the coming year. Later that day, the women would be randomly paired with the city’s bachelors, with whom they would spend the year. Many such arrangements ended in marriage, and Pope Gelasius officially made the day before the celebration, the 14th of February, Saint Valentine’s Day.

It became commonly believed in France and England that on the 14th of February the birds began to mate, adding to the views that the day should be held in regard as a day of romance.

Valentine’s Day began to be celebrated in Britain in the 17th century, and the practise of sending small gifts or handwritten notes became popular in the mid-18th century. It is celebrated in the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, France and Mexico. It is now the second-most popular time for the giving and receiving of cards, second only to Christmas.

For further information on the history of Valentine’s Day, visit The History Channel – The History of Valentine’s Day.