Valentine’s Day is a cherished occasion that exalts romance, love, and affectionate devotion. Yet, behind the sweet facade of candy and cupids, lies a history intertwined with darkness, bloodshed, and a touch of obscurity.
While the precise origin of the holiday remains uncertain, ancient Rome is a plausible starting point for exploration.
From Feb. 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia. Naked men would sacrifice goats, then whip the ladies of the community with the hide of the slain animal. The ladies would line up to be whipped believing this would make them more fertile (don’t worry, they got them back in December’s Saturnalia).
After that, the towns people would draw names to be paired up with someone for the rest of the festival, like a love lottery!
On February 14, around the year A.D. 270, Valentine, a priest in Rome in the days of Emperor Claudius II, is said to have been executed. Because he was marrying people, after the Emperor explicitly said he wanted the men to fight wars, not marry (Claudius actually banned Marriage for this very reason).
So, our St. Valentine was born, and died … quite gruesomely.
Fast Forward to 490, religious bureaucraticstructures being religious bureaucraticstructures, thought their special Saint’s day should be attached their the popular Lupercalia, to make the Catholic tradition more widely adopted, and try to settle down the goat slapping youth
… or at least get them to put their clothes back on, gesh.
Lupercalia has not been officially celebrated since 492.
So, by the looks of it, the party pooping Popes were successful, but … let me know in the comments if you’re in the area and see some of those antics – I’d love to be proven wrong.
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