Valentine Day - History and Origin

St Valentine’s execution date was 14th February, 270. There are lots of emotional stories that surround this event. All lores collectively affirm that he was imprisoned inside the castle. During his jail term, he continued to shower love and care on all people inside the castle, including the jailor’s blind daughter. It is believed that with his mystic powers and unconditional love, he cured her completely. When the last day of his life came, he wrote a letter to her declaring his love and signed it off as ‘from your Valentine’. 

This story is believed to base the ritual of writing love letters which still is a popular way of expressing love, as part of secret courtship. With the change of times, the lovers have become more creative in their way of wooing their partners. 

Officially, the day got the stature of a traditional feast day for Catholic Saints around the year 470 and from then, Valentine’s Day became the day of celebration of love. 

There is a mention of this day and St. Valentine in the poem ‘The Parliament of Fowls’ that the poet Chaucer wrote in the 14th century. His poem has a line that says that birds gathered on the seynt valentyns day to find their mate for that year. This line is believed to have initiated the tradition where prospective lovers on the Valentine’s day meet, and try to woo by singing poems or writing love letters to each other. 

The very first person to have got inspired by this poem to write a letter was Margery Brews, a woman who wrote a letter to her cousin John Paston to disclose her feelings. It is the first letter of its kind believed to have written as an expression of love.

In the middle ages that coincided with the popularity of Chaucer and his poem, Valentine’s day continued to spread around Rome and made its presence felt in European countries. 

Various stories talk about the High Court of Love where the judges heard the so-called ‘love cases’ and tried to rekindle the long lost love in couples who had differences, or they became a middle agent in bringing two lovers together.