Valentine's Day is fun to learn about because we associate it with love.
Kids, with their innocent little hearts, may make Valentine's cards for their friends and parents, and Valentine's Day is also famous for romantic dinners on the town and proposals of marriage.
But you may be surprised to learn that Valentine's Day didn't begin as a holiday to celebrate love.
Early History
On the contrary, it began as a holiday to honor the martyred Christian saint, St. Valentine; and the celebration of St. Valentine dates back to the early Roman Empire!
There are various reasons for St. Valentine's martyrdom. However, there was more than one saint named St. Valentine, so it is unknown which St. Valentine our holiday is named after.
One reason given for a St. Valentine, who was martyred under the law of the Roman Emperor Aurelius in 273, is because this St. Valentine was illegally helping Christians escape persecution.
For centuries there was discord between the early Roman Empire and Christianity and even amongst various sects of Christianity within the Roman Empire.
The main point of contention between the Christian sects was whether or not Jesus was the son of God.
The Love Connection
The "love" connection to St. Valentine's Day possibly came from the unconditional love for Christ making one willing to die for him. This particular St. Valentine would undoubtedly fit into this category.
There was a tradition throughout the Empire that martyred saints had certain calendar days dedicated to them on which they remembered the martyred saint.
But there were so many martyred saints that by the time we reached the Middle Ages, there were enough saint holidays to fill every Day of the year!
St. Valentine's Day is first recorded as occurring on February 14th, as far back as the 8th century.
The supposition is that the influence of the "courtly" love of the Middle Ages, and the early spring mating of lovebirds, eventually morphed into a holiday for lovebirds.
“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”
England, of All Places
During the 18th century, in England, St. Valentine's Day became designated for people to express their love. You may hear some Americans today say something to the effect of, "It's just another Hallmark holiday created to make money!"
But the celebration of Valentine's Day for lovebirds precedes Hallmark cards. (However, the business became successful by introducing Valentine's Day and Christmas cards in the early part of the 20th century.)
Now considered more of a romantic holiday than a day to remember martyred saints, we still find churches that continue to celebrate St. Valentine's Day as a proper saint's festival, including the Church of England.
Changing Dates Around
But like the Christians would do in the Middle Ages, the churches today have moved the saint's celebration from February 14th to another date for convenience.
A fun question to ask your children is whether or not it was right to change the Saint’s day to another day because of our modern celebration of love on February 14th.
I’m sure they’ll come up with some amusing answers!
A Hallmark holiday, After All?
Given that we did change the saint’s day, does that mean Valentine’s Day has becomes a Hallmark holiday after all? If so, no worries. Handmade greeting cards are so much more memorable than Hallmark cards, anyway.
Now that your children know the origins of Valentine's Day, why not encourage them to make Valentine's Day cards for the people they love? If you have relatives who live out of town, they can even post their cards in the mail, serving as an act of kindness and a grammar lesson in addressing an envelope.
Homeschool Planning
If you're homeschooling and your kids make Valentine's Day cards, you will also cover an art, grammar, and history lesson.
Another thing you could do is to make Valentine’s Day cookies and have your children deliver them to your neighbors as a gesture of goodwill.
Since baking includes math, you have also covered a math lesson too.
Happy Valentine's Day!
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