What is Valentine’s Day?

Lily Lidsky, Writer • February 8, 2026

As some of you may know, Valentine’s Day is coming up! One week from today, you’ll see people celebrate this holiday with chocolates, cards, flowers, or nice dinners. While this sounds pretty nice, few people know where this holiday actually started. To begin, we first need to look at Saint Valentine, the man after whom this holiday is named. There are a few different stories about him, and there are at least three different Valentins or Valentinus’s recognized by the church. Some people say he was a Roman priest who married couples in secret when marriage for young men was outlawed. Others believe that St. Valentine of Interamna is the true inspiration. He was beheaded for converting followers after refusing to renounce his faith. Finally, it is said that Valentine might have been killed after helping prisoners escape Roman prisons. In this version, he sent the first Valentine to his lover, signing it “From your Valentine.”

Now that we know a little background, we can begin to look at the actual holiday. Some believe it was originally a celebration of Valentine’s death, but others think it was placed in the middle of February to make the pagan celebration of Lupercalia more Christian. Lupercalia was celebrated on February 15th, and honored Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, along with Rome’s founders, Romulus and Remus. Roman priests gathered at the cave where Romulus and Remus were thought to have been cared for by a wolf, sacrificed a goat for fertility, and a dog for purification. The goat was skinned, and the strips of hide dipped in blood. The priests would walk the street and gently slap women and crops to hopefully make them more fertile. Unfortunately, Lupercalia was outlawed at the end of the 5th century, and February 14th was officially made Valentine’s Day.

Until the Middle Ages, Valentine’s Day wasn’t associated with love. It was commonly believed around France and England that February 14th was the beginning of the birds’ mating season. Geoffrey Chaucer, an English poet, was the first to suggest the holiday was romantic in his poem “The Parliament of Fowls.” Speaking of poems, the first recorded Valentine was one. Charles, Duke of Orleans, wrote his wife a poem in 1415 when he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. People believe that seven years later, King Henry V hired a writer to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois. By the 17th century, Valentine;s day became a celebration of spring. Englishers drew a name from a pot as a form of matchmaking. By the 18th century, it was normal for friends and lovers to exchange notes or small gifts, and the first mass-produced cards were created in the 1840’s.

Now, Valentine’s Day has become a largely commercial holiday. You look online and see thousands of people receiving elaborate gifts or cards, and it has taken away the impact and importance of the day. Instead of comparing yourself to Connor and Margaret (sorry to any Connors or Margarets out there, I’m sure you’re a lovely couple), think of Duke Charles, so enamoured with his wife that he wrote her a poem while he was imprisoned. Love cannot be confined to cards of chocolates, and as corny as it sounds, it really is the thought that counts.

For those of you who celebrate, I wish you all a very happy Valentine’s Day!