Mystery of Valentine

A special day for each occasion draws individual’s focus. Even for expressing love, a universal trait, we have a precise day - the Valentine’s Day.

Both the history of Valentine's Day and the story of its benefactor saint are shrouded in mystery. The full month of February has been celebrated by the entire world as the month of romance, since long. St Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains remnants of both Christian and ancient Roman custom. But who was Saint Valentine, remains a mystery even today.

Many versions of the stories are heard on St Valentine. Three singular saints named Valentine or Valentinus have been identified by the Catholic Church, all of whom were martyred. One myth argues that Valentine was a priest who served in Rome during the third century. This is not the conclusion to identify who St Valentine was. However, universally all stories swathe of one verity that St Valentine was a martyr.

In a similar vein, while some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the heart of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or interment, few others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to Christianise the ethnic celebration of Lupercalia. Lupercalia was a fertility festival bestowed to the Roman god of cultivation, Faunus, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

To begin the Lupercalia festival, an order of Roman priests or the so-called members of the Luperci would get together at a holy cavern where the children Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome were believed to have been heeded by a she-wolf or Lupa. For the sake of fertility and purification, the pastors would sacrifice a goat and a dog. The sacred blood would then be spilled in the fields. Also, without having any fear, the Roman women would welcome the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. After this entire episode, according to an epic, all the unmarried young women in the city would place their names in a big vase. The bachelor youths would in turn pick up one name from the vase and become twosome for the year with the selected woman. Subsequently, such relationships often ended in marriage.

Lupercalia continued to exist till the spread of Christianity. However, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 as St Valentine's Day, Lupercalia was outlawed on the grounds of un-Christian by the end of the 5th century. Since then the day has been hypothetically observed as the lovers’ day due to the reminiscences it carried of Lupercalia. The other version of the narration reveals that in the medieval period, it was universally believed in France and England that the mating season of all kinds of birds begins on February 14, which in turn added to the idea that the middle of valentine’s month should be a day for romance (February 14 turns to be the midday of the month).

Valentine greetings were popular for most of the time in the history, though written Valentine's were not popular till 1400 AD.

Way back to the olden times, the poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans, turns out to be the oldest accepted Valentine. Charles wrote ibid poem exclusively for his wife while he was under detention in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. The poem received a rare honour and secured in the form of a greeting after being recognised as the manuscript collection of the British Library in London.

Another similar thing in hearsay is that King Henry V appointed a writer John Lydgate by name to compile a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

In this contemporary era of Satmass communication, Internet – the eighth wonder of the world - has already originated many ways and means to express love on Valentine’s Day.

It is said that love can make a poet of anyone. However, it is quite possible that you may be in love and not be able to write any romantic poetry. Nothing in addition to appropriate interpersonal communication is required to express one’s love for the other - for love is universal and it reaches the destination indubitably!!

(The writer is ex-service man and can be reached at [email protected])