March 29, 2024

Valentine’s Day: Roman Ritual to Marketing Mania

Posted on January 31, 2015 by in Features

Feb2015VintageCoupleW

By Mary Flanders

Contrary to popular belief, Valentine’s Day was not created by Hallmark or the Post Office to increase revenue. Valentine’s Day dates back to pre-Christian Rome and the feast of Lupercalia when young women put their names in a basket and were paired up with the young men who picked their names out of the basket.

In ancient Rome, February 14th was a holiday to honor Juno, Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. She was also the Goddess of women and marriage. The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia. In ancient Rome, the lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate except during Lupercalia. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl’s name from the jar and they would be partners for the duration of the festival. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry.

Saint Valentine

Saint Valentine

No one knows exactly how Valentine’s Day began.It is known that St. Valentine was a Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up Christianity. Legend has it he was a priest who married couples in secret in defiance of the Roman Emperor Claudius II’s ban on engagements and marriages.  St. Valentine was captured and sent before the Prefect of Rome, where he was sentenced to be beaten to death and his head cut off. He was martyred on February 14 in about 270 AD. , the same day of the year the Romans held the “love lottery.” Another bit of St. Valentine lore says he left a farewell note for the jailer’s daughter (whom he had befriended) and signed it “from your Valentine.” His name began to be linked with love and marriage.

The leaders of the early Christian Church in Rome tried to eliminate the pagan element in the Lupercalia feasts by substituting the names of saints for those of young ladies. Since this festival began at about the same time as the Christian St. Valentine was killed, the early Church fathers channeled St Valentine into the Lupercalia festival and Valentine’s Day began to evolve. By 496 Pope Gelasius marked February 14 to honor St. Valentine. February 14th became the date to exchange love messages and St. Valentine became the patron Saint of lovers. From then on the date was marked by sending poems and simple gifts such as flowers. In larger communities there was often a social gathering or a ball.

It wasn’t until the 1700s that sending cards began to gain popularity. The oldest existing Valentine is one written by Feb2015HeartGraphicWCharles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife. He wrote it to her while imprisoned in the Tower of London, after the battle of Agincourt.

In the United States, Miss Esther Howland is given credit for sending the first valentine cards. Commercial valentines were introduced in the 1800’s and now the date is very commercialized. Valentine’s Day is second only to Christmas for the volume of cards delivered by the Post Office, with postal facilities in towns with names like Loveland, Colorado, doing a stout business around February 14. Remember when you exchanged valentines with your classmates in elementary school? School children still do that, too. 

For those lovers with a big budget on Valentine’s Day, the sky is the limit. There are gifts for that special someone that boggle the imagination.

The world’s most expensive pure chocolate may be the 2014 market newcomer To’ak at $173 an ounce. (forbes.com).

The world’s most expensive pure chocolate may be the 2014
market newcomer To’ak at $173
an ounce. (forbes.com).

According to forbes.com, one of the most expensive chocolates in the world is To’ak, consisting of just two ingredients, cacao and cane sugar. Sold in individual wooden boxes, only 574 bars were produced in two years, each weighing 1.5 oz. and costing $260 per bar.

If your love is on a diet, you might choose to impress her in a different way. Clive

Clive Christian No. #1 Imperial Majesty perfume holds the Guiness Book of World Records title for most expensive perfume in the world  (16.9 oz. bottle = $215,000).

Clive Christian No. #1 Imperial Majesty perfume holds the Guiness Book of World Records title for most
expensive perfume in the world
(16.9 oz. bottle = $215,000).

Christian offers the world’s most expensive perfume, “Imperial Majesty, No. 1,” available only in the Salon de Parfums of London’s Harrod’s department store. It is presented in a signature crystal bottle with 24 carat gold lattice-work, 2000 individually set flawless white diamonds, two yellow diamonds and a rare pink diamond.  Containing 30ml of the luxury fragrance, the perfume can be hers for $215,000.

If she’s allergic to perfume, or if this is the day you’ve chosen to pop the question, you truly have no limits. The engagement ring Donald Trump gave Slovenian-born model Melania Knauss in 2004, for example, is a 12 carat flawless emerald cut diamond. The ring, featuring tapered diamond baguettes on the side and set in platinum, is reportedly valued at $3 million in today’s market.

If you want to give her the moon and stars look into the night sky at BPM 37093 in the Centaurus Constellation. You’ll find a white dwarf star, nicknamed “Lucy” after the Beatles song, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” It is composed of crystallized carbon, which makes it the biggest diamond in the entire universe, equalling a stone of 10 billion trillion trillion carats. 

Jewelry is a great Valentine’s gift, with diamonds the preferred choice  for many.

Jewelry is a great Valentine’s gift, with diamonds the preferred choice
for many.

Okay, so you’re looking for something a little more down to earth? How about flowers? Want to impress her? White flowers of any kind cost more than colors because they bruise more easily. The top 10 most expensive and generally available flowers are: Casa Blanca lilies, gardenias, hydrangeas, lillies of the valley, lisianthus, orchids, peonies, roses, stephanotis, and tulips. What’s thought to be the rarest and most expensive bloom? Many say it’s Sri Lanka’s Kadupul flower, considered priceless because it blossoms right before midnight and dies before dawn.

If the romance of the written word appeals, the novels of Kathleen Woodiwiss will set a passionate pulse a-flutter for this special day. With titles like The Flame and the Flower, The Elusive Flame, and Shanna, Woodiwiss wrote the first historical fiction romance novels and began the genre almost single handedly. The “Queen of Romance Novels” was a Louisiana native, born in 1939.

If you’re not ready to write a novel for your love, you can still give a truly romantic gift to touch the heart Feb2015Couple&ValentineWand soul of that special person. For under $50 you can have a personalized romance novel written for you and about you. There are several online sites where filling out a questionnaire enables you to purchase a personalized novel. The books are available in paperback or hard cover. For an additional fee you can even send in your own photos for the cover artwork. Give that to your fan of romance novels and you’ll let loose the fires of passion to leap and roar as her eyes flicker with…..

Anyway,  she’ll love it.

Dinner out, dinner in, funny card or sentimental one, candy, flowers, perfume, jewelry, or however you choose to celebrate, Valentine’s Day is the one day of the year dedicated to truly focusing on that certain someone and saying “I love you.” 

Perhaps Robert Browning said it best when it comes to this most romantic day –

           “Grow old along with me!

          The best is yet to be.”

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