Valentine's Day is a celebration of love, but it wasn’t always that way.
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!
However, there was more than one saint named St. Valentine, so it is unknown which St. Valentine our holiday is named after.
There are various reasons for our unknown St. Valentine's martyrdom, too. There was one St. Valentine, who was martyred under the law of the Roman Emperor Aurelius in 273 a.d. for 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 Love Connection
The "love" connection to St. Valentine's Day possibly came from the unconditional love for Christ making one willing to die a martyr. The aforementioned St. Valentine would fit into this category.
A tradition existed throughout the Empire of dedicating certain calendar days to the martyred saints, and on their allotted day, each saint would be celebrated and remembered.
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!
First Record
St. Valentine's Day, as we know it, 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 people say things like, "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 can 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.
I’m sure they’ll come up with some amusing answers!
The Art Project
Now that your children know the evolution 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, too.
Handmade greeting cards are fun to make and so much more memorable than Hallmark cards.
Homeschool Planning
If you're homeschooling and your kids make Valentine's Day cards, you can check off history, grammar, and art lessons.
Who said learning couldn’t be fun?!
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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