On the Internet, you can read the following about Valentine's Day:
The history of Valentine's Day, as suggested in the 17th century in France by the historian Tillemont, and later in the 18th century in England by Butler and Douce, originates from the Lupercalia of Ancient Rome. Lupercalia is a feast of fertility in honor of the goddess of "feverish" love Juno Februata and the god Faun (Luperk is one of his nicknames), the patron saint of herds, which was celebrated annually on February 15.
In the ancient world, infant mortality was very high]. In 276 BC. e. Rome almost died out as a result of the "epidemic" of stillborns and miscarriages. The Oracle announced that in order to increase the birth rate, a rite of corporal punishment (flogging) of women with the help of sacrificial skin is necessary. People who, for whatever reason, had few or no children, were viewed as damned and resorted to mystical rituals in order to gain the ability to bear children. The place where the she-wolf, according to legend, brought up Romulus and Remus (the founders of Rome), was considered a saint by the Romans. Every year, on February 15, a holiday called "Lupercalia" (Latin lupa - "wolf") was held here, during which animals were sacrificed. Scourges were made from their skins. After the feast, the young people took these whips and ran naked through the city, hitting the women who met on the way with the whip. Women willingly expose themselves, believing that these blows will give them fertility and easy childbirth. This became a very common ritual in Rome, in which even members of noble families participated. There is evidence that even Mark Antony was a luperk.
At the end of the celebrations, the women also stripped naked. These festivals became so popular that even when many other pagan festivals were canceled with the advent of Christianity, this one existed for a long time.
In 494, Pope Gelasius I tried to ban Lupercalia.
The Orthodox Encyclopedia notes that "it seems more likely that the celebration of this day replaced the Lupercalia, an ancient Roman feast of female fertility, which fell in mid-February."
At the same time, historians William Friend and Jack Oruch (which was published in 1967-1981) argue that the idea that there was an ordinary replacement of a pagan cult by a Christian celebration is nothing more than a guess that arose in the 18th century among antiquaries of Alban Butler, who compiled the so-called. Butler's Lives of the Saints (English The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints), and Francis de Sales on the basis of the complete lack of reliable data about Valentine, an attempt was made to artificially link the writings of the XIV century with the events that took place in the III century. Scholars Michael Kaylor and Henry Kelly also believe that there is no evidence to indicate a connection between modern romantic narratives and the Roman festival.
Promotional video:
Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev notes on this occasion that:
Was it really Pope Gelasius who appointed the feast of St. Valentine on February 14 - unclear. There is no doubt that it was this pope who put an end to the celebration of the Lupercalia in Rome. Also, this pope is remembered for the fact that he issued a decree limiting the circulation of the apocrypha and strictly defining the framework of the biblical canon. And yet I am afraid that there are no documents that would make it possible to assert that "in 496 by a papal decree, Lupercalia was transformed into Valentine's Day, and Valentine, who gave his life for love, was canonized."
In the late Middle Ages in France and England, the life of St. Valentina gradually began to grow into legends associated with the secret wedding of couples in love. According to the Golden Legend, in those distant and dark times, the imperious and cruel Roman emperor Claudius II came to the conclusion that a single man, not burdened with a wife and family, would be better off fighting on the battlefield for the glory of Caesar, and forbade men to marry, and women and girls - to marry your beloved men. And Saint Valentine was an ordinary field doctor and priest who sympathized with the unfortunate lovers and secretly from everyone, under cover of night, sanctified the marriage of loving men and women. Soon the activities of St. Valentine became known to the authorities, and he was imprisoned and sentenced to death. In conclusion, Saint Valentine met the beautiful daughter of the overseer, Julia. Before his death, the enamored priest wrote to his beloved girl a declaration of love - a valentine, where he spoke about his love, and signed it "Your Valentine". It was read after he was executed, and the execution itself took place on February 14, 269.
According to another legend, the Roman patrician Valentine, who was a secret Christian, who also converted his servants to the new faith, once performed a wedding ceremony for two of them. By denunciation or coincidence, all three were detained by the guards. Valentine, as an upper class person, could have escaped death, but not his servant. Then, wanting to encourage the doomed fellow believers, Valentine writes them letters in the form of red hearts, meaning Christian love. The message to the newlyweds was to be conveyed by a blind girl, but unexpectedly Valentine himself came to the dungeons, who persuaded the guards to release his servants in exchange for his life. Before entering the arena of death, Valentine handed over the last letter, consecrated by faith and kindness, to a blind girl, who then regained her sight and became a beauty.
The established tradition of celebrating St. Valentine's Day as "Valentine's Day" has been influenced by English and French literature since the end of the XIV century. Popular belief, reflected in the work of the "father of the English literary language" Geoffrey Chaucer in his famous poem "Bird Parliament", as well as in the 34th and 35th ballads by another English poet John Gower, on this day birds begin to search for their mate.
The poem was written in honor of the engagement of Richard II to Anna Czech. The engagement itself took place on May 2, 1381. (When they married 8 months later, both were only 15 years old.)
At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, on the pages of the "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron" Valentine's Day was described, according to which February 14 was more likely not a holiday, but a day of a kind of ritual, whose participants throughout the year felt its consequences:
“On the eve of the day dedicated to St. Valentin, young people gathered and put in the urn the number of tickets corresponding to their number, with the names of young girls marked on them; then each took out one such ticket. The girl, whose name was given to the young man in this way, became for the coming year his "Valentine", as well as he was her "Valentine", which entailed relations between young people for a whole year like those that, according to the descriptions of medieval novels, existed between the knight and his "lady of the heart"."
In 1969, the celebration of St. Valentine as a church-wide saint was discontinued, and his name was removed by the Roman Catholic Church during the reorganization of the calendar of saints, due to the fact that there is no exact information about this martyr, except for his personal name and the tradition of beheading with a sword.
Currently, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates on this day the memory of Saints Equal to the Apostles Cyril and Methodius, the enlighteners of the Slavs, and this holiday has become optional.
In the Orthodox Church, the memory of Valentine, the presbyter of Rome, with whose name the celebration of Valentine's Day is usually associated, is celebrated on July 19 (old style - in old calendar churches, new style - in new calendar ones). Peter and Fevronia of Murom were considered the patrons of prosperity in marital relations in Russia.
In 2008, the Federation Council of Russia approved the initiative to establish on the day of their memory (July 8 of the new style, which corresponds to June 25 of the old style) "Day of conjugal love and family happiness."
In Russia, the holiday is of a secular nature and has been celebrated since the beginning of the Eltsin lawlessness of the 90s of the XX century. All this was done to destroy Russian national traditions by the enemies of the people.
Even the enemies of the people themselves note that the attitude of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches to this holiday is ambiguous. Using zhidozombiSMI this holiday is being introduced on the Russian land.
It is promoted that lovers on this day make each other nice gifts made with their own hands.
Even the Roman Catholic Church does not officially hold any special festive services on Valentine's Day, considering it a folk-commercial, and not a church tradition.
The General Secretary of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Russia, priest Igor Kovalevsky, in turn told RIA Novosti that in Russian Catholic churches on February 14, instead of Valentine's Day, which has pagan roots, the liturgical holiday of the patrons of Europe, Saints Cyril and Methodius, is celebrated. The celebration in honor of St. Valentine on this day is, according to the priest, “optional”.
Some hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church are disapproving of the holiday.
In 2011, the Governor of the Belgorod Region E. S. Savchenko ordered to prohibit the celebration of St. Valentine, as part of the plan for "measures to ensure spiritual security."
This is also due to the fact that since 2008 Russia has again had its own official holiday - the All-Russian Day of Family, Love and Fidelity, which is celebrated on July 8 on the day of memory of the holy noble princes Peter and Fevronia of Murom - patrons of family happiness, love and fidelity.
Attempts are being made to propose an alternative to the celebration of Valentine's Day in the form of St. Tryphon's Day (also February 14 in a new style).
At the same time, a well-known Orthodox figure, Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev, spoke out in defense of Valentine's Day, believing that despite the birth of the tradition of celebrating in Catholic culture, Valentine's Day has Orthodox roots too. As examples, Kuraev cites the history of the emergence of the celebration of Christmas, the day of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, as well as the adoption by the Russian Orthodox Church of May 9 - Victory Day.
The attitude of the Islamic clergy to this holiday is negative.
In Saudi Arabia, celebrating Valentine's Day is banned under the threat of heavy fines.
In Japan, Valentine's Day has been celebrated since the 1930s. Initially, it was customary for the Japanese to give sweet gifts to each other on this holiday. Subsequently, strong commercialization significantly changed the custom. Today, the most popular gift is chocolate, and a girl should present gifts to both her chosen one and her friends. In the second case, the gift is called giri-choko (polite chocolate). A gift from a man on this day is considered not masculine. A return gift, usually in the form of white chocolate, is made by the chosen man a month later on the so-called "white day".
In the United States, Valentine's Day was first celebrated in 1777.
In 1847, Esther Howland started a successful hand-crafted British Valentine's Day card business at her home in Worcester, Massachusetts. Since the 19th century, homemade valentines have almost completely given way to mass-produced greeting cards. The popularity of such cards in 19th century America was a harbinger of the subsequent commercialization of holidays in the United States.
In the XX century, it became fashionable to buy expensive marzipans as a gift. It was considered bad form not to give marzipans to the bride for a wedding.
According to the United States Greeting Cards Association, valentines are the most popular holiday cards after Christmas.
In Europe, the tradition of celebration dates back to the XII century-XIII century.
Sending valentines was fashionable in 19th century Britain. Also, British girls on this day wondered at their betrothed, looking out the window.
Once again, we remind you that on the Internet you can read the following about Valentine's Day:
Since the church hierarchs themselves are ashamed of this under-holiday, it is possible that these words contain the answer to what and who is celebrating on this day …