Walking down the hallway on February 14, almost every girl was wearing pink or red. But not a single boy was wearing anything even slightly related to Valentine’s Day. Everyone in that hallway probably thinks that they know a lot of stuff about Valentine’s Day, but they most likely don’t know the details. Valentine’s Day wasn’t always about the good kind of love, and yes, there is a bad type.
Sebastian Medcraft, a seventh grader from Cannon Falls High School Middle School, said he thought that he was very close to finding the truth of the origin of Valentine’s Day. Although, he couldn’t be farther from the truth. When asked what he thought, Sebastian Medcraft said that, “a boy and a girl wanted to make a holiday about love.” Valentine’s Day has a very unknown origin, some people have different perspectives on what the holiday originally was.
Valentine’s Day was originally called the Pagan Celebration of Lupercalia. Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture. This celebration also honored the month of February. Slowly the holiday changed and became what it is today. Valentine’s Day got its name from Saint Valentine; St. Valentine was a priest that served during the third century. At the time, the ruler was Emperor Claudius II, and he thought that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families. So Emperor Claudius outlawed marriage for young men. St. Valentine knew that the law was unjust and kept marrying young couples in secret. When Emperor Claudius found out he wanted St. Valentine to be put to death.
There are many things people think of when they think of Valentine’s Day. Some include hearts, candy, love, Cupid, and doves. Doves are associated with Valentine’s Day because they are Aphrodite’s (the Greek goddess of love) sacred animal, meaning that they represent her. The colors red and pink represent Valentine’s Day. This is because red represents love and the red rose is the favorite flower of Aphrodite.
Mrs. Melissa Husseth said she eats too much candy on Valentine’s Day. There are lots of different Valentine’s Day candies, some of the most iconic ones are chocolate, candy hearts, and suckers. But some others are chocolate flowers or heart candies. When asked what her favorite candy was, Husseth said, “Anything chocolate.” Now everybody in that hallway should know that Valentine’s Day is not just about the love they think it is.
