By Vian Abdullah
What is Love?
That bloody question has somehow always persisted in the back of the human psyche; it is a uniquely human concept that was born out of centuries of cross-cultural ideas and the chemical reactions of the brain. So it might not be that surprising that the holiday surrounding the idea would be just as – unclear. Because with a lot of cultural traditions that exist, their origins and purpose have been morphed and twisted so much throughout the ages that their original meanings are sometimes unrecognisable to the modern fellow. So let us embark on a journey to explore the oddly fascinating origins of Valentine’s Day.
The dissection of the holiday itself must start with its namesake: St. Valentine’s Day. The term ‘saint’ would infer that it most likely related to Christianity and with a lot of Western traditions, it started in everyone’s favourite empire, Rome. The fact is that St. Valentine did really exist in ancient Rome, but St. Valentine is not a singular figure because there are multiple saints named Valentine. This was most likely because in Latin, the name “Valentinus meant strong or worthy.
Though they were multiple, the stories that are commonly told about them was that they were martyrs who died in not the most romantic of ways. One It is important to note that the consensus on the historical existence of St. Valentine is unclear, so it’s best to treat stories about him as legend more than fact. One of those stories tells that he was a priest who served during the reign of Emperor Claudius II. Apparent the emperor thought that he would strengthen his army by not allowing them to have partners. Apparently Valentine didn’t agree with this because he would continue to hold marriages for them anyway, in secret. Once he was exposed, the punishment he received for such a heinous act, was death. Another lovely story suggests that he was tortured and killed for helping in the release of Christian prisoners in pagan Rome. One story even says that Valentine himself sent the first “Valentine’s” greeting, as a prisoner who fell in love with his capturer’s daughter – supposedly the letter inscribed contained the phrase, “From your Valentine.”
In the same vein as Easter, it can be inferred that Valentine’s Day is dedicated to commemorate the death of (a saint named) Valentine, as his death was done in the name of love. The first story had him fulfilling the wishes of young lovers by binding them in marriage, the second one had him releasing prisoners because of his love and compassion, and the third one straight up had him fall in love. Though that might not be the case.
After Rome converted to Christianity, people and the Church were starting to question their previous pagan celebrations and how they would fit with their new beliefs. Rome already had a tradition of combining cultures and assimilating them into their own (as seen in the incorporation of the Greek gods into the Roman pantheon); so the assertions throws out that Valentine’s Day was an attempt to “Christianise” the celebration of Lupercalia. The original holiday involved women being slapped with a goat’s hide dipped in sacrificial blood because they believed that it promoted fertility. Men would usually place their names in a large vase, for them to be paired up with one of these women, and it would usually end in marriage.
Though the holiday had been around since the 5th Century, it did not become associated with concepts of love and romance until around the 14th Century. For in 1375, English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer published a poem in his work, Parliament of Fouls, that contained the line: “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate,” Chaucer was known for mixing history with his own fictitious concepts and this was probably no exception, as there are no traces of Valentine’s Day being used for the celebration of love before this. Assuming that the story of the third St. Valentine doesn’t count, the first Valentine’s letter goes back to 1415, when Charles, Duke of Orleans, wrote to his wife while he was imprisoned at the Tower of London, after he was captured at the Battle of Agincourt. The holiday maintained its popularity in Britain because it would later be practiced in its colonies; notably: Australia, Canada and the United States. Later on in the late 19th and early 20th Century, the improvements in printing technology meant that Valentine’s letters began to be produced at in mass. Because this created a new market for such products and so began the capitalisation of love itself. The great thing about empires is that they make history a lot easier to explain. So the spread of Valentine’s Day and its popularity can now be seen with the expansion of the British Empire and the cultural influence of the United States of America – which is most likely why people in Mentari know or even (God forbid), care about it.
Simply put, the notion of romance that we associate with Valentine’s Day traditionally cannot be the original intended purpose of the holiday. As the modern ideals of romantic love were not fully developed. People before the enlightenment and the industrial revolution were more concerned about their own survival, so such frivolous ideas like marrying in the name of love were not the focus. Marriage was intended for the sole purpose of producing offspring. It was not until people started getting smarter in the enlightenment and wealthier in the industrial revolution that people finally had the time to seriously ponder on these concepts. Partly why Paris is said to be the “city of love” is the explosion of enlightenment thought in the city, a lot of them concerning the topic of love. The Romantic Era in arts and literature also played a part in this as people began glorifying the past – sometimes in rose-tinted glasses. Ideas of chivalrous knights rescuing the fair maiden lingered freely in the minds of Western citizens. So as Valentine’s Day was already vaguely associated with ideas of love and fraternity, it became the perfect consolidation of all these factors.
One aspect of romanticism came in the ways that people viewed history itself. The idea of making out a specific period or person in history to be better or worse than they really were is something that we still deal with today. The term “romance” itself came from Rome, as people had their minds occupied with how awesome it was during its heyday, setting themselves to go back to the times when advancements in science, art and literature were the norm. Of course, to exalt such eras, there must be something to contrast it with – the Middle Ages. They originated the view that the Middle Ages were backwater times when culture and scientific advancements were halted, and that people had fought pointless wars against one another.
Such concepts are not only applied to eras but leaders as well. Because in simplest terms, it’s much easier to point at good guys and bad guys when seeing the story of history unfold, like picking teams in a football match. A prevalent example can this is seen in the concept of the founding father. People like Gandhi, Sukarno and George Washington are generally revered in their respective countries, they are seen as heroes who lead their nations to independence. Of course, the lauding of their achievements runs the risk of creating a backlash by the people who aren’t buying into it. They recognise that these famous men had flaws intrinsic to their character, and were not the force of good that people want to believe. The slippery slope that comes with this is when people try to discredit the accomplishments of such historical figures because of morally grey actions they committed during their era. Things like Gandhi supporting apartheid in South Africa, Sukarno becoming an autocrat and George Washington owning slaves are all points of contention. There is an attractive and somewhat post-romantic notion to have such revered figures to be remembered in the future as dubious individuals. Though this extreme revisionism does not take into account standards of morality and society that had existed in those time periods, because even if someone were to stand out in society, they were still a part of it.
That is the unlikely genius of Valentine’s Day. St. Valentine himself is not a clear-cut historical figure, the true nature of his existence is disputed. That leads to the idea that he will possibly never become as controversial figure, because people can never be sure who he really was. The Catholic Church and people all around the world aren’t going to tell stories of a morally grey individual, they want a romantic one about a saint who sacrificed himself in the name of love. Maybe Valentine’s Day has no true meaning, it seems that what people make of it continue to evolve as years go by – and that is what makes it the perfect holiday to celebrate the abstract beauty of love.
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