A Little Romance
Valentine’s has always been a day for strong sentiments
By JAKE CORN
and MEG CADY
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
The history of the romance holiday remains cloudy and
uncertain, even to historians, and even though some SUU
students are unaware where Valentine’s Day came
from, they are willing to celebrate it.
“Some guy named St. Valentine invented it, right?”
said Kevin Rollins, a freshman theatre arts major from
Phoenix.
According to historychannel.com, Valentine’s Day
is a combination of both Christian and Roman traditions,
adopted by the Catholics in memory of the martyrdom of
St. Valentine in A.D. 270.
“Cupid is a Greek or Roman god, so it probably came
from that era,” said Valerie Walsh, a freshman undeclared
major from Sandy.
The ancient Romans had a festival called Lupercalia, which
was celebrated on Feb. 15.
This festival was deigned to celebrate Faunus, the Roman
god of agriculture, and Romulus and Remus, the Roman mythological
characters said to have founded Rome, according to historychannel.com
Lupercalia was a celebration of fertility. Women would
place their names on pieces of paper in a large urn, and
bachelors would draw names out of the urn.
Each bachelor would stay with his chosen woman for a year,
a practice that often resulted in marriage.
Even though most authorities agree the Catholic church
named the holiday after St. Valentine, no one knows who
St. Valentine was.
The Catholic church recognizes three saints by the name
of Valentine or Valentinius, all of whom were martyred.
One of the Valentines was a 3rd century Roman priest.
According to historychannel.com, the emperor of the time
decreed that no single men could marry because men were
better soldiers if they did not have wives.
According to the legend, Valentine went behind the emperor’s
back and married couples secretly, for which he was later
executed.
The legend says he wrote her a letter after he was sent
to prison and signed it “From your Valentine,”
a phrase often found on Valentines today.
However, Valentine’s Day wasn’t always a day
of mirth and love for everyone. Feb. 14, 1929, is known
as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, a famous event
in the history of mafia-related
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A replica of a letter written by Elizabeth Barrett
Browning to her beloved Robert Browning. During her
lifetime, Barrett was one of England’s most
reknowned poets. She lived in seclusion in her father’s
house and exchanged letters with Browning, vowing
her un-dying love. Barrett and Browning eventually
eloped in Italy, to the distain of her father, and
had a son named Pen. Browning’s dedication to
Barrett exemplifies the history of true love.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID PAYSTRUP AND ANNIE BROWN
/ UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
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murders.
The Chicago Historical Society reported on the Web site
www.crimelibrary.com that famous bootleg mob boss Al Capone
planned an unsuccessful assassination on rival Bugs Moran,
but did mangage to kill seven of Moran’s gang in a
warehouse in Chicago. |
