…according to John Lennon. Add two or three early Christian priests and Valentine’s Day becomes special. In the 3rd century, several men named Valentine angered a Roman Emperor so much that he executed them.
Their crime? One Valentine was secretly marrying couples, because husbands were immune from being drafted into the Emperor’s army. A second Valentine was martyred about a year later for curing the son of a pagan scholar, whose entire household then converted to the Christian faith. The third Valentine lived in North Africa. Little is known about his sainthood except that he must have done something thing really good to be treated so badly.
While there are a variety of theories, historians agree that the origin of Valentine’s Day is murky. In ancient times, a multi-day feast called Lupercalia was held between February 13 – 15. The ancient Romans celebrated, as only they could, with the slaughter of a couple of animals and a drunken feast.
Time passed, Christianity spread and three Valentines were eventually Sainted. Finally, a 5th century Pope, aiming to stop the pagan celebrations, sanitized Lupercalia and transformed it into a day to honor St. Valentine, fidelity and love.
For something so ubiquitous, the heart symbol is also shrouded in mystery and theories abound as to how its shape and meaning have evolved through the ages. Early Greek philosophers believed that the heart was the center of the soul, but they thought a human heart was shaped more like a pinecone, than the hearts we know today.
Historians theorize that hearts share the shape of ivy leaves, which signify love and fertility, and were worn in the wedding wreathes of Ancient Greece. Another ancient plant, now extinct, could also have influenced the heart shape. Giant Silphium, a type of fennel, grew in North Africa and was exported (to extinction) throughout the vast Roman Empire. Its leaves and seeds were heart shaped. Its leaves were known to have contraceptive powers and thus were associated with love.
Over many centuries, the heart symbol has become the universal symbol of love and affection. Hearts are one of the suits on playing cards and it is also the name of a card game. The Queen of hearts card itself is thought to represent Elizabeth of York, queen consort to Henry VII. She was the only English Queen to have been a wife, daughter, sister, niece and mother to English Kings.
The Queen of Hearts is also a maniacally unbalanced character in “Alice of Wonderland.” Hearts are high art a la Robert Indiana’s famous work. There are over 40 popular heart emojis, established by the Unicode Consortium, available to choose from, and each supposedly has a unique meaning. In 1977, the noun hearts became a verb, when it was plastered on T-shirts as in “I heart NY”
Until about the fourteenth century, the heart was usually depicted upside down. The heart-shape may also be a stylized depiction of human anatomy, mimicking the curved shape of some body parts. Heart shapes as we now know them have been found on tapestries and artwork since the Middle Ages.
Valentine’s Day itself gained a big jump in popularity in the seventeenth century, as English people began sending love notes, often adorned with hearts.
Since then, humans have found many ways to celebrate this day of love. We all know the drill: buy a card, maybe some flowers, throw in some hearts, (chocolate or candied) and you’re good to go. But what would Valentine’s Day, or any day for that matter, be without hearts?
So Happy Valentines Day. In a thoroughly modern nod to diversity, Feb. 15 has become Singles Awareness Day. People wear green or black (not red) and do something nice for themselves and their single friends.