Valentine’s Day a day of mystery

Historians cannot agree upon why we celebrate this late-winter day of February, associating it with deeds of love and kisses, presenting gifts of hearts and flowers. And no one quite knows why the offering of that big box of chocolate candy stuffed with cherries becomes so important to our loved ones.

Students of folklore tell us that our version of Valentine’s Day was created to replace the pagan holiday of Lupercalia, a celebration of the year arriving at its turning point, when winter days are their coldest, as equivalent to the excessive heat found in mid-July. Lupercalia acknowledged that these are the cleansing days, when nature and man prepare pastures, fields and flocks for another season.

Other civilizations used this time of year to gather herbs needed for spring tonics and the rituals needed to ensure the demise of winter and the arrival of spring when Cupid and Pan would begin launching arrows that left one not wounded, but smitten.

Religious leaders suggest that day derives from the martyrdom of Saint Valentine of Rome, a mid-third century saint who was beheaded by the Roman emperor Claudius for helping Christian couples wed.

The origins of this red-letter day of romance are mysterious, but then so is love.

This story was originally published February 13, 2016 at 11:52 AM with the headline "Valentine’s Day a day of mystery."