Nilly, Valentine's Day is one of those holidays that used to be pagan and then got co-opted by the Catholic Church. There's a decent page here [link]
Basically, Feb. 15th was the feast of Lupercalia, then a Pope declared the 14th to be St. Valentine's Day, as the three Valentines that were martyred all apparently died on Feb. 14th.
Here's the story of the most popular Valentine:
Most scholars believe that the St. Valentine of the holiday was a priest who attracted the disfavor of Roman emperor Claudius II around 270. At this stage, the factual ends and the mythic begins. According to one legend, Claudius II had prohibited marriage for young men, claiming that bachelors made better soldiers. Valentine continued to secretly perform marriage ceremonies but was eventually apprehended by the Romans and put to death. Another legend has it that Valentine, imprisoned by Claudius, fell in love with the daughter of his jailer. Before he was executed, he allegedly sent her a letter signed "from your Valentine." Probably the most plausible story surrounding St. Valentine is one not focused on Eros (passionate love) but on agape (Christian love): he was martyred for refusing to renounce his religion.
Nilly, a brief history of Valentine's Day. Briefly, St. Valentine became associated with romantic love.
Completely unrelated is the Valentine's Day Massacre. A famous Chicago gangster killing that occurred on Valentine's Day, 1929.
Isidore "Saint" Valentine, so named for his unsaintly ways, worked as a hit man for Al Capone. After his notorious St Valentine's Day massacre of 1929, the Hallmark company was left with a great deal of bloodstained card stock, so they launched the lurve holiday as a way to sell off the damaged goods....
or something.
St. Valentine also invented the heart-shaped mylar balloon. And he was the first to put a variety of candies into one box.
Hallmark company was left with a great deal of bloodstained card stock, so they launched the lurve holiday as a way to sell off the damaged goods....
If only Buffistas were in charge of writing history books....
That link doesn't include the best part of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre:
Nobody shot me. : -- Frank Gusenberg, his last words, when asked by police who had shot him 14 times with a machine gun in the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
St. Valentine also invented the heart-shaped mylar balloon.
Ah Valentines day, the the Hello Kitty of holidays.
So the most important lesson about Valentine's day that Nilly should learn is to watch out for gangsters carrying machine guns - especially if you happen to be in Chicago in the 1920s.
especially if you happen to be in Chicago in the 1920s.
Or visit an alien society based on a book about Chicago in the 1920s.
