Happy Lupercalia everyone!

Like most modern holidays, Valentine's Day is rooted in an ancient (per-Christian) tradition. The origins of V-Day trace back to the Roman celebration of Lupercalia - which was held on February 15th. You see, Lupercalia honored the gods Lupercua and Fannus, plus the legendary twins and founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. 

There would be a big feast and festival - in which young men would draw women's names from a box and the couple would be paired until the next year's celebration. (Wow! A whole year?! It takes the whole "throw your keys into a bowl and swing!" up a new level!). These same men would run naked through the streets, whipping young women with bloodied coat skin thongs, all the while goats would be sacrificed and their blood smeared on willing participants looking for love and fertility. 

While this doesn't sound like a great time to me, this must of been a real hoot because it didn't stop until AD 496!! That's when Saint Pope Gelasius I declared February 14 as "Valentine's Day" and made all the maiden pairing, blood smearing and snaked lady beating illegal.

There are several versions of who is real VALENTINE is, because there were at least three men with that name in the AD 200's that died horrible deaths that could of been twisted into a romanticized myth of heroic love. But no one knows the truth, and for that reason, the Vatican dropped St Valentine's Day from the Catholic Church calendar of saints in the 1960's.

My favorite version is the following:    

A priest named Valentine disobeyed Emperor Claudius II's decree that all soldiers were to remain single bachelor - his rationale being that lady parts distract boys and they can't concentrate if engaged, dating or married. So Valentine defied the emperor and secretly performed marriage ceremonies. Because of his betrayal, Valentine was put to death on February 14th. As Christianity spread, Valentine was made a saint. Lupercalia was moved from the 15th to the 14th and Valentine's Day was born.

Also.....

The first greeting cards were handmade (they're always better than store-bought ones anyway) and appeared in the 16th century. Companies started mass-producing cards that were hand-colored by factory workers. 

Today an estimated 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are sent each year. 85% are purchased by women (that kinda bums me out!)

 

ps... no idea why this shows up in all caps and kinda funky. I didn't write it like that.

 Oh well....