Valentine's Day History

Parade

3/24/2025

Valentine's Day History and facts.

Transcript

00:00Happy Valentine's Day!

00:04While many believe that the romantic holiday was just invented to sell couples cards and overpriced candy,

00:09it actually has a much more disturbing background than capitalistic overconsumption.

00:14One theory suggests that Valentine's Day origins coincide with the Roman festival of Bercalia held from February 13 to the 15th.

00:21According to History.com, this spring celebration included blood,

00:25violence, and sexually charged celebrations that included animal sacrifice and random matchmaking,

00:31all to ward off infertility and evil spirits.

00:34Similar, right?

00:35It's believed the festival started to honor the she-wolf Lupercal,

00:38who raised Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, according to legend.

00:42Bonus points because this festival also honored the fertility god, Ludacris.

00:46Wait, no, Lupercris.

00:49My bad.

00:50Roman priests would sacrifice a goat for fertility and a dog for purification.

00:55They would then strip the goat's hide into pieces, dip them in the sacrificial blood,

00:59and take to the streets and gently slap women and crop fields.

01:03You know, property.

01:04Let's just sit with that for a moment.

01:09Supposedly, according to the man who wrote History,

01:12Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year.

01:17Later in the day, according to legend,

01:18all the young women in the city would place their names in an urn.

01:21The city's bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman.

01:26These matches often end in marriage.

01:29So, basically married at first sight.

01:32Unsurprisingly, the tradition did not last long after the rise of Christianity.

01:36It was deemed unchristian at the end of the 5th century,

01:39Pope Glasius declared February 14th Valentine's Day.

01:44So, how did we get from all of that to Valentine's Day?

01:48Well, with more death.

01:50Emperor Claudius II executed two men named Valentine on February 14th

01:55for performing marriages to young couples.

01:57See, Claudius had decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives or families,

02:03thus outlawing marriage for all single young men.

02:08Okay, hot take.

02:09So, all I have to say about that,

02:11their deaths were honored by the Catholic Church,

02:14and years later the day became known as Saint Valentine's Day.

02:17Years later, the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to record Saint

02:29Valentine's Day as the day of romantic celebration in his 1375 poem The Parliament of Fowls,

02:35which was inspired by the belief that February 14th was the beginning of the

02:38bird's mating season, which inspired humans to also be romantic.

02:42Medieval birds, the first Twitter influencers.

02:46That joke's less funny now that it's called X, isn't it?

02:49By the 17th century, people in Great Britain began exchanging handwritten notes.

02:53By the next century, it became common to give small tokens of affection.

02:56Fast forward to the 19th century,

02:58and Esther A. Holland, known as the Mother of the Valentine,

03:02created the first decorated Valentine's card.

03:04In 1913, Hallmark started mass producing them,

03:07and basically that's where we're at now.

03:09Following Christmas, Valentine's Day is the second largest card-giving holiday,

03:13with an estimate 145 million cards are sent out each year.

03:17I can't even process that number.

03:20Now that you're slightly traumatized, let's do a palate cleanser with just some

03:24down-and-dirty modern Valentine's Day facts.

03:26Valentine's Day is celebrated across the world,

03:28especially in the US, Britain, Canada, and Australia.

03:32In the Philippines, February 14th is actually the most common wedding anniversary.

03:36Aww.

03:37According to 1-800-Flowers,

03:39teachers are actually the ones who receive the most amount of valentines each year,

03:42followed by kids, mothers, wives, and girlfriends.

03:45I assumed mistresses are next, but maybe husbands or boyfriends?

03:50Men do spend twice as much on a holiday as women do,

03:53with the average being around $130, with women's average spending being around $70.

03:58No clue what this does for anyone's fertility,

04:00but it's gotta be better than getting hit with bloody animal hides.

04:03But I'm not a doctor.

04:05Lastly, it's extremely common for pets to also get little treats and gifts for the holiday.

04:10So no, they will be expecting something.

04:12Especially dogs.

04:13It's repriations at this point.

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