Valentine’s Day is coming up soon!. In the spirit of
the day, we take a look at the history of the heart symbol and the rather
grizly story behind the real St. Valentine.
We do know that February has long
been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine's Day contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient
Roman tradition. The history of Valentine's Day–and the story of its
patron saint–is shrouded in mystery.
Most scholars believe that the St. Valentine of the holiday
was a priest who attracted the dis-favour of Roman emperor Claudius ll around 270. At this stage, the factual ends and the mythic
begins. According to one legend, Claudius II had prohibited marriage for young
men, claiming that bachelors made better soldiers. Valentine continued to
secretly perform marriage ceremonies but was eventually apprehended by the
Romans and put to death.
There are many
symbols that are attached to Valentine's day and with expression of love. The heart shape is one of the most popular.
It was formerly
believed that the heart was the seat of the soul and all human emotions.
Accordingly, the gifting of a heart signified the selfless act of giving
everything to someone you love. Though the ancients were not aware that the
heart was responsible for pumping blood though the circulatory system, yet they
knew one thing for sure that the heart was the center of all feelings. This
ancient belief has lingered on through the ages.
Thing is, the
heart symbol doesn’t even vaguely resemble a human heart
The heart
shape, as a graphic pictograph, can be traced back to before the last Ice Age
but nobody knows what it actually meant to these Cro-Magnon hunters – its use
as a logo for love didn’t happen until the Middle Ages. Even then, nobody
really knows the exact history of the heart symbol, but there are many
different theories kicking around. A few are weird and some x-rated. Others
suggest the shape is derived from the shape of an arrowhead. Cupid, the ancient Roman god of love would
fire his arrow into someone that had prayed to him, and the recipient of said
arrow would fall madly in love with whoever did the praying. He also “shot
people through the heart”. The arrowhead was softened when depicted with the
winged Cupid. Artists tended to round-off the barbs (the pointy bits at the
back of an arrowhead that prevent the arrow from being removed) into a more
friendly shape. That shape would evolve into our heart symbol.
Beautiful
heart shaped gemstone pendant are available at The Crystal Cave, Knysna. For more
information visit the facebook page.
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