Overview
- Historians describe ancient Lupercalia’s mid‑February rites with animal sacrifice and blood‑dipped goat hides, while stressing that a direct handoff to a saint’s feast lacks firm evidence.
- Early records reference several third‑century martyrs named Valentinus, leaving no single verified biography and prompting scholars to treat the romantic tales as later tradition.
- Writers such as Geoffrey Chaucer helped fix February 14 to courtly love, with early messages from figures like Charles, Duke of Orleans, and Margery Brews showing the shift by the 15th century.
- Card‑giving expanded from handmade notes to mass production through Esther Howland and later Hallmark, with about 145 million cards exchanged annually in the U.S. and recent spending estimated in the tens of billions.
- Modern observance varies widely, from 19th‑century ‘Vinegar Valentines’ to today’s friendship‑focused celebrations in Finland and Estonia.