History of Valentine’s Day

Post date: Feb 15, 2017 12:23:08 PM

By: Abbie Schmidt, Co Editor-in-Chief

Posted February 15th, 2017

The history of Valentine’s Day is pretty fuzzy but this is how we think it came about:

In the third century AD, there was a man called Saint Valentine. He was a Roman priest during a time when the Emperor banned the marriage of soldiers. Saint Valentine thought the ban was unfair and married soldiers anyways. When the Emperor found out, Saint Valentine was sentenced to death. While in prison, he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter. Before he died on February 14th, he wrote her a letter and signed it “Your Valentine”.

It’s said that giving chocolates, flowers, and cards on Valentine’s Day didn’t become popular until around 300 years ago, after the holiday became a symbolism for love. The holiday became a “love holiday” after being romanticized by Shakespeare and other writers.

All the details surrounding Valentine’s Day are pretty unclear but this is what we think happened to create the day that Americans are expected to pay over $19 billion this year alone.