Happy Valentine’s Day: Who was St. Valentine and why do we celebrate on February 14?

Feb 14: Happy Valentine’s Day: Valentine’s Day, celebrated on February 14, is widely regarded as the day of expressing love. Couples all around the world look forward to spending time with each other, sharing gifts, chocolates, champagne, etc. But, there’s more to the day than that. It is named after a saint: St. Valentine. Many believe the Valentine’s Day tradition can be traced back to a Roman fertility festival known as Lupercalia.

Some people also think that Valentine’s Day marks the death anniversary of Saint Valentine, who died on February 14 in 270 AD. Others say the celebrations began as an attempt by the Church to ‘Christianise’ the Lupercalia holiday. The Roman celebration honoured Faunus, the god of agriculture, as well as Romulus and Remus, the Roman founders. Men would pick names of women from a box, and they would become a couple through the event. This could even lead to marriage in some cases. Pope Gelasius picked the period of Lupercalia celebrations as the day to remember Saint Valentine towards the end of the 5th century, resulting in the association of Valentine’s Day with love and romance.