When was Valentine’s Day first Celebrated?
In its pagan avatar, Valentine’s was celebrated as the Lupercalia festival, the spring festival of fertility in Rome, around AD 270. Of its various rituals, lots would be drawn with names of boys and girls who would be paired up. Some pairings resulted in romance and marriage. Later, the church in its attempt to purge society of pagan customs decided to celebrate Valentine’s Day in the middle of February — the mating season of birds. St Valentine, who secretly performed marriages during the regime of Emperor Claudius II, came to be associated with it. In AD 498, Pope Gelacius declared February 14 as Valentine’s Day.
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