By JESSICA BADIA
Valentine’s Day is a time to celebrate romance and love and appreciate your significant other. But the origins of this festival of candy and cupids are actually dark, bloody — and a bit sadistic.
Though no one has pinpointed the exact origin of the holiday, one good place to start is ancient Rome, where men hit on women by, well, hitting them.
From Feb. 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia. The men sacrificed a goat and a dog, then whipped women with the hides of the animals they had just killed. The women would actually line up for the men to whip them based on the belief that it would make them fertile, according to, NPR.
This brutal “holiday” included a matchmaking lottery where names were pulled out and would be coupled together for the duration of the holiday, or longer if the match worked.
According to NPR, the ancient Romans are also responsible for the name of our modern holiday. Emperor Claudius II executed two men — both named Valentine — on Feb. 14 of different years in the 3rd century A.D. Their martyrdom was honored by the Catholic Church with the celebration of St. Valentine’s Day.
Over the years the pagan tradition was adopted and changed by other religions. The Christians adopted this holiday and made it less sexual and more conservative, according to NPR. Although the names were different, they all had a title that referred back to love. The holiday became sweet and loving due to poets like William Shakespeare.
As the years went on the holiday grew kinder and sweeter. Shakespeare and poets alike romanticized the holiday within their work. “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite.”
? Shakespeare’s poems of love and tragedy sparked the transition of the holiday. Their work inspired Europe and that is when the tradition on love letters, or modern day cards, became popular.
The tradition eventually made its way to the new world, where factory made cards were becoming the new holiday tradition. In 1913, Hallmark Cards of Kansas City, Mo., began mass producing valentines.This started the bloom of our modern day love celebration. February has not been the same since. ” I have always thought Valentines Day was just a day to shower your significant other in gifts and love, I didn’t even realize it was an old roman tradition,” said Ryan Brady, 21 year old Ramapo College student.
Modern Valentines Day
In case any of you wanted to know what I’d like for Valentine’s Day pic.twitter.com/IAWXK16kjs
— Via (@vintagescrm) February 6, 2020
Today, the holiday is big for businesses around the world. According to market research firm IBIS World, Valentine’s Day sales reached $17.6 billion last year; this year’s sales are expected to total $18.6 billion.
Many will break the bank splurging on presents and flowers for their loved ones. Others will celebrate in a SAD (that’s Single Awareness Day) way, dining alone and binging on self-gifted chocolates or with other single friends. A few may even be spending this day the same way the early Romans did, but that’s a conversation for a different day.
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