Where Valentine’s Day Really Comes From

Valentine’s Day has its roots in Christian tradition, taking its name from Saint Valentine, or possibly several early Christian martyrs who lived during the Roman Empire.

As Encyclopaedia Britannica explains, the true identity of Saint Valentine is uncertain. Early records suggest that more than one martyr named Valentine was honoured by the Church, and over time their stories may have become blurred together.

The best known tale associated with Valentine comes from later legend. It describes a third-century Roman priest who was executed during the reign of Emperor Claudius II. According to tradition, Valentine angered the authorities by secretly performing marriages, an act that was said to defy imperial policy. While there is no solid historical evidence to confirm this story, it played an important role in shaping Valentine’s later reputation as a figure connected with love and devotion.

What is firmly established is that February 14^th became Saint Valentine’s feast day in the Christian calendar a day set aside to honour a martyr, long before it developed any romantic meaning.

Long before Valentine’s name was linked to romance, ancient Romans celebrated the festival of Lupercalia from February 13–15. This Roman pagan festival honoured fertility and purification rituals tied to the coming of spring.  Although modern culture often connects Lupercalia to Valentine’s Day, historians caution that the link isn’t well supported: the festival centred on rites of health and fertility, and there’s no ancient record of matchmaking as part of the celebration. 

Instead, the overlap in timing is likely a coincidence rather than direct heritage

For centuries, the saint’s feast day existed with no romantic connotations. It wasn’t until the 14th century that Valentine’s Day started to be connected with love. This shift is generally credited to medieval poetry.

English poet Geoffrey Chaucer, in his 1375 work “Parliament of Fowls,” wrote about birds choosing their mates on St. Valentine’s Day. This was one of the first known literary links between February 14^th and romantic love, and it helped transform the holiday’s symbolic meaning. 

Soon afterwards, courtly love poetry and the practices of chivalric romance spread the idea of Valentine’s Day as a time for expressing affection

By the late Middle Ages, people began exchanging love notes and poems. The oldest known Valentine letter in English dates from 1415. 

While we now think of Valentine’s cards as hearts, flowers and kind words, Victorian Britain had a very different sense of humour. In the 19th century, people not only sent romantic Valentines they also sent what were called “Vinegar Valentines,” sometimes known as mock or comic Valentines. These were cheap, single-sheet cards filled with sharp-tongued verses and caricatures meant to insult rather than flatter. Instead of wooing the recipient, vinegar valentines poked fun at faults like vanity, laziness or drunkenness and could be sent to unwanted suitors, annoying neighbours, or just anyone someone wanted to tease. 

These “anti-Valentines” were popular enough that by the 1870s a wholesaler’s sample book contained dozens of them alongside the delicate, romantic cards — highlighting that even in the age of courtly love there was room for downright mischief on February 14^th.