Feb. 14 is a day of joy. Known today as a holiday celebrating love, passion and relationships, the day of romance honors itself through multiple traditions. While confessions of love and flowers set the scene in 2026, Valentine’s Day can trace all its red hearts and chocolates to a darker portion of history.
From Feb. 13 – 15, ancient Romans held a feast, which would come to be known as Lupercalia. During the feast, Roman men would sacrifice a goat and a dog, after which they would whip women with the hides of the animals they had just slain. Women believed it would bring them fertility and purity.
The festivities would continue with something like a matchmaking lottery. Young men would pick the names of young women from a jar, and the two would be coupled for the duration of the festival and, if the match was right, longer.
But this isn’t the only contribution the Romans provided. Emperor Claudius II executed different men, both named Valentine, on Feb. 14, in different years of the third century. A day honoring them was later established by the Catholic Church and came to be called St. Valentine’s Day
After this, Pope Gelasius mixed things up. He combined St. Valentine’s Day and Lupercalia. However, the theme remained the same: celebrating fertility and love. During this period, the Normans, Scandinavians who settled in Normandy around AD 1912, celebrated Gallatin’s day, which meant “ lover of women.” These two holidays were likely confused at some point in history due to their similar pronunciation.
As time passed by, the holiday became romanticized by the bards of the time, key among them being Shakespeare and Chaucer. With this, the popularity of the holiday spread throughout Europe and was soon brought to the New World.
While early Valentine’s Day had stronger religious themes and traditions, there was a romantic shift around the 14th century. Along with this newly added romance came ways of showing affection to others; handwritten poetry and letters were common between lovers, as were small tokens, flowers and scented items.
Today, many traditions have remained, but so have many new traditions that have also been popularized. Classic gift-giving has changed only slightly. While letters are still used, chocolates and extravagant jewelry are becoming more common. Romantic dinners are not a new coming tradition but are now becoming even fancier as relations grow and become more important.
Valentine’s Day has traditionally been associated with romance between couples; however, today it can also be shared between friends. Galentine’s Day is an unofficial holiday that was popularized through social media, but specifically through the TV show Parks and Recreation, in which one of the characters gathers her friends for brunch and gifts.
Galentine’s Day is usually celebrated by groups of women spending time together through spa visits, brunches, dinners, parties or other forms of quality time. The entire idea of Galentine’s Day is to celebrate friendship over romance and to strengthen bonds with friends.
