by Summer Hubert

Today, the meaning of Valentine’s Day is all about love and romance, boxes of chocolate, bouquets of flowers, romantic dinners, and heart-eye emojis. With kids, it’s about those Valentine’s Day boxes for collecting cards and heart-shaped treats at school. Everything is filled with pink and red hearts, but have you ever wondered why we celebrate Valentine’s day? 

Valentine’s day, also known as St. Valentines Day, originated from the Roman festival of Lupercalia. Celebrated on the Ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders. In ancient Roman times, this festival celebrated the coming of spring and the pairing off of women with men by lottery. To begin the festival, the priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. In the 5th century the pope ended the festival of Lupercalia to replace it with St. Valentine’s day because during the rise Christianity, Lupercalia seemed “unholy”. In the Middle Ages, France and England thought that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which added to the notion that Valentine’s Day should be associated with romance. So, Valentine’s day as we know it, did not truly come into existence until the 14th century. 

Valentine’s day is popular in the United States, as well as in Britain, Canada, and Australia, and it is also celebrated in other countries, including Argentina, France, Mexico, and South Korea.