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Valentine’s Day: Tradition vs. Truth



Every February 14th, the world turns into a pink-and-red mosaic of roses and almost as much candy as Halloween. 

We’re told it’s the day of "true love," but the holidays bloody history suggests Valentine's Day is more bureaucratic than a Hallmark card portrays.

Saint Valentine was a soft-hearted matchmaker who wanted everyone to be happy, right?

There were at least two (possibly three) different "Valentines" martyred by the Romans. The most popular "truth" involves a priest who defied Emperor Claudius II’s ban on marriage (the Emperor thought single men made better soldiers). Valentine performed weddings in secret and was eventually executed for it. He wasn't a florist; he was a political rebel.

We send "valentines" to express our affection, well, some of us. But the roots of the holiday lie in Lupercalia, a Roman fertility festival held from February 13–15. 

This ritual involved Roman priests sacrificing goats and dogs, then running through the streets slapping women with the hides to "guarantee" fertility for the coming year.

Two birds sitting in a tree represents the ideal couple.
But during the Middle Ages, people in France and England believed February 14th was the day birds began their mating season. The romance was simply an observation of avian biology. Humans just decided to hijack the schedule and apply it to their own dating lives.

The holiday as we know it is a triumph of 19th-century industrialization. Once mass-produced cards became cheap to mail, the "obligation" of the holiday was born. The truth is Valentine's Day is less about the state of your heart and more about the state of the retail economy during the "lull" between Christmas and Easter.

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