Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, marketed as a celebration of love but its origins are far darker.
The story of Saint Valentine rests on shaky ground. Historians cannot even agree whether he was one man, several men, or a legend created to legitimize a date that was already sacred long before Christianity arrived.
Before roses and chocolates, mid February was marked by ancient fertility rites tied to blood, survival, and renewal. These rituals were never erased only rebranded. Love replaced blood. Saints replaced gods. The date stayed the same.
Today, Valentine’s Day functions as a global emotional checkpoint, synchronizing expectations, insecurity, and behavior. Love is no longer spontaneous. It is scheduled, standardized, and monetized.
Even its symbols tell the story. Hearts, arrows, and Cupid do not come from Christianity they come from Eros, the ancient god of desire, revealing a fertility current repackaged as romance.
Maybe Valentine’s Day was never about love at all, but about control disguised in red and sold back to us once a year.
by TheWhiteRabbit4090