Evening star., 1915-02-14
>ry Shr0ue1s the Origin Of St. Valentines Day

EIIIE observance of St Valentines
day is undoubtedly of pa gan
III origin, but tradition has pre-
& served so little of the founda
tiOn OF the customs practiced on that
day that it is difficult to understa
why it is the day when all true lovers
exchange missives. Surely. there was
nothing in the lives of either of the
two Valentines mentioned in history to
attract sweethearts.
one Valentine was a bishop of Rome
who stood steadfast in his faith during
The days of the Claudian persecution.
and was put into Jail on account OF
his refusal to give up his religion. Dur
ing his incarceration he is said to have
cured the keepers daughter of blind
ness. When the authorities learned of
the matter they beat the good man
with clubs and afterward beheaded
him. His martyrdom occurred on the
14th of February in the year 20
His remains are preserved in the
Church of ST. Praxedes at Rome. where
a gate has also been named in his
honor.
The other Valentine had even less to
90 with sentiment. The chief act of
his life seems to have been the per-
torrance of nliracle-that of heal
ing the son of Grafton. the rhetorician.
a year later the healer was choked to
death on a fish bone. In due course
OF time he was canonized and became
known as the saint who took under his
particular patronage persons suffering
from epilepsy. and people who were
afflicted with this malady, especially
cd to h i'm
for relief.
Away back in the days of the pagans
the classic Lupercalia was celebrate.
in honor of Pan and Juno, sometimes
being known as the Juno Februta.
Many writers who have searched the
pages of history for the origin of this
true lovers day declare that our Valen-
tines day is merely the ChriStianized
form OF the old Roman feast. Others
declare that the birds choose their
mates on February IA, and that from
this fact came the custom of young
men and maidens choosing valentines
on that day. While this is a pretty
continent. it is hardly so plausible as
the one declaring it to be form of
the old Lupercalia.
So, in describing the observances of
old Valentine customs Il brief sketch
of one particular part of the feast
should be included. This was known
as Loves Lottery. The student in
history is familiar with the fact that
carried out on a grand scale, and tins
part of the Lupercalia observance was
no exception At that time hundreds
OF young women tdebutantes) ap-
peared wearing their best clothes. They
sat in rows of fowerbedecked chairs
while their names were put into box
These names were then drawn out by
the young men AS each man drew a
name he sought out the girl and led
her out for dance. The rest of the
evening was spent in games of forfeit
and in love-making.
Human nature was the same in those
days as it is today. and after awhile
The undesirable clement crept in and
the behavior OF some of the couples led
10 so many scandals in Roman society
that the Christian clergy tried to sup
press the whole affair. Not being able
to do this. they did succeed in putting
an end to the lottery, although the
feast of dancing. wine drinking ana
love making continued. The men of
the church persuaded the authorities
to substitute the name of saint in
stead of d living being, and when the
young man drew out the name he
was urged to pray to that particular
saint during the coming year.
While perhaps it did put an end to
some of the disgrace:ul scenes, it
proved failure. for the young men
after a year or two declared they pre-
ferred flesh and blood to saints and
they refused to have anything TO do
with the feast and the Loves Lot
terry soon became thing of the past.
However. the inmates of many Chris 5
tiau homes thought it a beautiful idea
and on each Valentines day they went
through the lottery and drew out the
name of a saint. This custom was in
vogue UP to the beginning of the nine
teenth century, when it fell into disuse.