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      The actual origin is so ancient that it has left scholars unsure, but there is no question of its importance. Jane M. Hatch in The American Book of Days suggests that the association of St. Valentine and lovers grew out of the similarity between Valentine and the Norman word galantin, the name of a saint which means "a lover of women." They say that Galantin's Day (the g is often pronounced v) added to the confusion.

      Records show, however, another theory of the association with lovers. This speculation says that more than a century before Christ, on the eve and day of February 15, an ancient Roman festival, Lupercalia, was observed to ensure fertility and health. It was a ritual celebration of courtship, mating and good crops.

      Edna Barth, in her lovely and most delightful book, Hearts, Cupids, and Red Roses: The Story of the Valentine Symbols, tells of a romance and courtship practice where, on the evening of Lupercalia, February 14th, Roman youths would draw names of girls from an urn. The name drawn was to be their partner during the festival. (When I was in elementary school, an echo of this practice was observed, except that we used a big box decorated with red hearts and cupids instead of an urn.)

      According to legend, the festival was to honor Faunus, who, like the Greek Pan, was the god of the crops. Two youths, the story goes, were blessed by their priests and ran through the Roman streets swinging about them goatskin thongs called Februa. The Latin word, Februatio, the act o lashing with the sacre tongs, was for the purpose of "purification." From it comes our name for February. It was believed that if a young woman was touched by the thongs she would be better able to bear children.

      The Roman solders, in the first century before Christ, took with them the customs of Lupercalia, and that is where we got our customs of drawing names for partners or sweethearts on February 14th.

      By the fourth century, the Church had become the legal religion of the Empire. The church fathers, as hard as they tried, were unable to abolish the "pagan" festival, the derogatory name they gave to the older religions. So, in a true resolute spirit, "when you can't beat 'em, join 'em," the Church assigned it a Christian name, "St. Valentine's Day."

      The celebration of St. Valentine's Day was banned more than once and in more than one country. However, do what it might, the church could not erase the meaning and memories of the ancient celebration of mating. The memories lived on in the minds of the populace. In 1660 the good Charles 11 restored the day. Eventually the courting practices were revived and men once again began to send love tokens and proposals on February 14th.

      Because of Great Britain, the advent of the printing of greeting cards, the strong need of the human spirit for love and the continued infatuation of children for the holiday, Saint Valentine's Day is now observed more than ever.

      Who was St. Valentine or did he ever really exist? Again, scholars seem to differ. Early church records list a number of martyrs by this name and feasts were held on February 14th for each of them. It is possible, however, that none of them had anything to do with the festival of love, mating and courtship.

                  

      In the Middle Ages, it was believed that birds mated on St. Valentine's Day. The missel thrush, the partridge, and the blackbird really did mate in the middle of February. Seeing that, people thought all birds did and, according to some, that is probably why we attached the date of the 14th to love, courtship and mating.

      As love birds became connected with St. Valentine's Day, the dove emerged as the most favorite of symbols on valentines, bearing a message alone or in pairs. Why, specifically, the dove? In mythology, it was sacred to Venus and other love deities. Barth said that "from the time of Noah, doves had served as sacred messengers." The Bible speaks of doves as messengers, and they are spoken of in the Song of Solomon as... "the time of singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land." (turtle is short for turtle dove.)

      Also, doves mate for life; are seen sharing the duties of caring for their babies; loving and cooing; and have long been symbols of romantic love. In many lands, ancient and modern, doves have been seen as magical and have been used to divine the future.

      The ancient, mythological Roman god, Cupid, the symbol of passionate and playful love, is the son of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. The Greek's counterpart of Cupid is Eros, son of Aphrodite. We can see that we have the Greeks to thank for our terms erotica and aphrodisiac.

      One myth tells the story of a time when Cupid fell deeply in love with the beautiful Psyche, a mere mortal. Venus, Cupid's mother, grew jealous and tricked Psyche into doing a series of tasks of ever increasing difficulty. When Psyche peeked into the "box of beauty", she was struck into a deep slumber.

      Cupid eventually came along and found her. With his love, he removed the sleep and put it back into the box. And, with one of his arrows, he touched her heart and she awoke. Moved by her undying love for Cupid, the gods made her a god and they lived happily ever after.

      It is interesting to see how Cupid's appearance changed over the centuries. In ancient times, he was the symbol of love; a young, handsome, Adonis-like mythological man. Now, he is a chubby little playful cherub.

      Hearts, according to scholars, were believed by our ancient ancestors to contain the soul. The Egyptians thought it to be the center of intelligence and reasoning. Even today, the way in which we talk of "heartsick" feelings or sending "heartfelt" greetings sounds as if we believe our hearts contain our emotions. Lovesickness and heartaches occur when our hearts have been pierced with Cupid's arrows. We lose all sense of reason, and all of our intellectual faculties, which proves that the Egyptians may have been on the right track and knew what they were talking about!

      There was a quaint Medieval custom in England, and other countries of Europe, of drawing names for a partner. Barth said that in many areas, the young men would pin the names of their partners on their sleeves for a week. This is where the idea of "carrying our hearts on our sleeves" originated. Nowadays, it is a way in which to describe those who are quick to show their feelings and we speak of them as "wearing their hearts on their sleeves."

      Flowers were associated with love tokens long before there was any Valentine's Day. Their beauty and scented fragrance was always tied to love and romance.

      Red roses were sacred to Bacchus, the god of wine and joy, and Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, and also were connected to Cupid. Barth indicated that from the time of Solomon, the primary flower linked to love and romance has been the rose. It served as a love token long before valentines ever existed. Cleopatra of Egypt covered the floor with roses before receiving her lover, Mark Anthony.