Timeline: Valentine's Day History

The great lyric poet Sappho writes, "Once again Eros melts my limbs and spins me round, bitter-sweet creature, irresistible." The Greek god of love, Eros, becomes the template for the Roman version, Cupid.



A common pagan custom was a form of lottery dating. On the eve of the festival, the names of Roman girls are written on slips of paper and placed in jars. After a boy draws a name, the girl is stuck with that chump as her boyfriend for a year. Though it sounds a little bit like a swinging '70s key party, the practice apparently was quite popular.

At about this time, pagan priests begin to gather on the Ides of February -- Feb. 15 -- at the cave of Lupercal to honor Faunus, the rural god of crops and herds. In one ritual, noble boys run through the streets and lash girls who wear hide thongs called februa. The lashes -- called februatio -- are (apparently) welcomed by young women as a fertility ritual. This strange ritual is the origin of the word "February." The festival, known as Lupercalia, lasts for eight centuries. In a somewhat different form, it continues today as Valentine's Day.

Apuleius writes "The Golden Ass," one of the great works of Roman literature. The seminal work, which reads a little like a fairy tale, edifies the Cupid myth. In the story, Venus is ticked off because of the birth of a beautiful girl, Psyche, who inspires more worship than the goddess of love herself. She sends out her son, Cupid, to inflame the girl with love for some worthless man. Instead, Cupid falls in love with Psyche.

The wonderful tale has many bends and twists, but ends happily: Cupid (Love) and Psyche (Soul) marry and have a daughter, Voluptas (Pleasure).

Emperor Claudius II (aka Claudius the Cruel) is having a difficult time getting soldiers to join military campaigns. In a bad move of community relations, he reasons that married men make poor soldiers and bans marriage for young men across the Roman Empire.

A man named Valentine realizes the injustice and defies the dictate by performing Christian marriages on the sly. Claudius finds out and condemns him to prison.

In confinement, Valentine is visited by Claudius's blind daughter. He falls in love with her, and -- in some versions -- cures the girl of blindness.

Though that might sound a little fairy tale-ish, we do know for certain that Claudius found out that Valentine was still preaching in prison. But is Claudius more ticked because Valentine is between the sheets with his daughter or because he's still preaching? Either way, Claudius has Valentine beheaded -- on Feb. 14.

Before his death, Valentine quickly jots down a farewell message to his true amour, the king's daughter. The girl opens the note and discovers a yellow crocus inside, with a message that reads "From your Valentine." In some versions of the story, the combination of the crocus and the missive cures her blindness.

(Note to guys: If you can swing it, this gift is even better than Godiva chocolates.)



Pope Gelasius is having a tough time fighting off the pagan religious orders. He tries to rid the Christians of one particular pagan ritual -- Lupercalia, which still uses the lurid lottery-dating practice. To replace Lupercalia with something more domestic, Gelasius declares Feb. 14 a celebration in honor of the martyrdom of St. Valentine. He suggests replacing the lottery dating game with the practice of drawing saint's names. As one might guess, the new practice is not widely accepted.



Charles, Duke of Orleans, writes the first true valentine. While imprisoned in the Tower of London after the Battle of Agincourt, he sends a missive to his wife. The greeting can be read today at the British Museum in London.

Around this time, Cupid becomes associated with the Valentine tradition. For romantic poets of the middle ages, Feb. 14 is also believed to be the onset of the mating season of birds.



King Henry V hires John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois. They marry later that year.



King Henry VIII declares Feb. 14 as "St. Valentine's Day" by Royal Charter.



In Britain, Valentine's Day becomes popularly celebrated.



Handcrafted greeting cards become popular in Britain. The French begin trimming big paper hearts with yards of real lace. By the end of the century, mass production technology and cheaper postage lead to greater popularity of the printed Valentine's Day card.



Esther Lowland develops the first American commercial valentine. In her first year of business, she earns $5,000 -- quite a sum in the day.



By the time of the Civil War, Valentine's Day catches on wholeheartedly in America. It begins to rival Christmas in lavish expense.



Al Copone's henchmen off seven mobsters working for bootlegger Bugs Moran. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre reminds some people of the connection between love and death.



The feast of St. Valentine is dropped from the modern Catholic liturgical calendar.



According to the Greeting Card Association, 1 billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second-biggest holiday of the year (after Christmas). The organization estimates that women purchase 85 percent of all valentines.