This weekend is Valentine's Day , better known today as Day of Love and Friendship. What emerged as the commemoration of a martyr from the first centuries of the Christian Era –Valentine de Terni- is now a commercial bacchanal, framed in the demonstrations of affection that couples and friends share in honor of this special date, regardless of its depth, and even its veracity. In this note we offer you historical data about the possible origin of this ephemeris that, at present, generates millionaire movements in shopping centers, restaurants, travel agencies and other areas, as an inevitable sign of our times, defined by modern sociology as “the era of consumption”. Valentine it is, of course, something more than that, as we can understand by knowing its interesting history.
One of the origins attributed to February 14 is closely related to a prohibition that arose in the Roman Empire. Claudius II, who was Emperor of Rome in the third century after Christ, was against young people getting married, because he thought it was very difficult to form an effective, efficient and professional army with men who had an established, consensual relationship. and approved, so it imposed strong restrictions so that marriages could not take place.
Valentin of Terni was a religious who dared to defy the Emperor, celebrating marriages clandestinely. This situation did not go unnoticed by the Emperor who ordered him to be imprisoned immediately. From the relationship between Valentín de Terni and his jailer, the officer Asterius, what we know today as Valentine's Day was probably born. .
Asterius decides to test Valentin and his strong religious beliefs by demanding that he restore his daughter Julia's sight, a young blind woman. Valentin, who professed a deep Christian faith, manages to restore the girl's sight before Asterius, a known anti-Christian, decides to adopt the religion that gave rise to the New Testament.
Despite this portentous event, Claudius II does not forgive Valentine's disobedience and orders that he be executed on February 14, 270. It is presumed that Valentine and Julia had a relationship letter in which Valentín signed precisely as "Tu Valentín".
Another of the possible origins of February 14 is found, in the same way, in ancient Rome. Between February 3 and 15, the ancient Romans celebrated the festival of "La Lupercalia", a festival of pagan origin in honor of Luperco, God of fertility, agriculture and hunting. In a bizarre custom, the men killed a goat and a dog, and then proceeded to whip the women with the skins of the animals that had been skinned.
The Romans had the unfounded belief that this action, which denigrated their women, would purify them, making them more fertile and fruitful. Around the year 494 AD, Pope Gelasius, in an attempt to suppress the pagan festival, ordered that the date of the celebration be changed from February 14 to February 2, the date of the purification of the Virgin Mary and the presentation of Christ in the temple of Jerusalem. This date change, supported by biblical texts, gave rise to another Christian celebration that continues to this day, the feast of the Virgin of Candelaria.
Finally, Pope Gelasius himself, in the year 496 AD, realizing that the population of the Empire did not forget the festival that the Church was trying to eliminate, decides to make another attempt to dilute it. The church determines to converge the date of the "Lupercalia" celebration with the day on which the death of San Valentín was also commemorated. at the hands of Emperor Claudius II, "The Gothic".
Probably, from the union of these two festivities, what is known as Valentine's Day originates. , Valentine's Day or Friendship and Love Day. This last denomination, undoubtedly more contemporary, responds to commercial intentions of expanding the range of people included in the festivity:it is no longer just about established couples, but also of close friendships and other variations of this concept.
However, it is much later, during the time of the industrial revolution, in the United Kingdom, and some time later in the new continent, that this celebration reaches the magnitude of a party international. At the beginning of the 20th century, precisely in 1913, Hallmark, the internationally known North American company, flooded the market with cards that refer to February 14, as the International Day of Love.
In almost all Latin American countries it is celebrated on February 14, with the exception of Brazil. Other countries in which the Saint of Roman origin is not commemorated are Japan (despite having been occupied by the United States after its defeat in World War II) and Egypt.
In Peru, February 14 is a very special date for a considerable number of people who take advantage of this opportunity to express their affection and exchange gifts. The party of Valentine it generates around 100 million dollars in the Peruvian market, according to the Association of Shopping and Entertainment Centers.