Nowadays, a lot of people think of Valentine’s Day as the day of flowers, hearts, chocolate, and cheesy pickup lines, but that isn’t what it’s always been. Valentine’s used to have a completely different meaning coming from the Legend of Saint Valentine as well as Christian and Ancient Roman traditions. 

One legend of Saint Valentine states that he was a priest during the third century in Rome when the emperor decided to change the laws so young men could not be married and had to be sent off as soldiers. When Valentine realized what was happening, he performed marriage ceremonies secretly for young couples. When the emperor found out what he was doing he was beheaded outside of Rome.

Another legend goes that Saint Valentine was helping prisoners escape and fell in love with one of the jailers’ daughters. When he was helping prisoners, he left her love letters, signing them as “From your Valentine”, unintentionally creating a tradition cherished by many.

Valentine’s Day is celebrated in honor of his death and burial in celebration of his character. The legends behind the man of Valentines are told in multiple different ways, but in each, he is spoken as a romantic, caring, hero. 

With Valentine’s Day falling in the middle of the month of February, it is believed that it was specifically put there to Christianize the Pagan celebration of Lupercalia, which is Feb. 15, celebrating fertility. Within the Pagan celebration the priests would sacrifice goats for fertility and dogs for purification, believing that touching the hides would bring them such things. 

The young women during these celebrations would write their names and place them into a large urn where eligible bachelors would go up to pull the women’s names and be partnered with them for the year. Many of these matches would result in marriage between the two.

In the 5th century, Pope Gelasius made Feb. 14 officially St. Valentine’s Day, which was also the start of the bird’s mating season, making many correlate it as a romantic day.