The Origin of Valentine’s Day

The+Origin+of+Valentines+Day

Valentine’s Day celebrates love and friendship but during the 3rd century A.D this was not the case. Two men were sacrificed on different years on February 14, and coincidentally their names were both: you guessed it Valentine. Usually in ancient Rome men would kill two sheep and one dog as a sacrifice to the gods. They would then use a part of the freshly killed animal to whip single women. This was believed to help women be more fertile. The women would then be paired with the man who whipped them and if all went well, they would become a couple. Emperor Claudius II felt that the animal sacrifices were not enough and decided to sacrifice a man every year. However, this only happened twice. The Catholic church honored the men sacrificed by naming February 14, Valentine’s Day.