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Valentine's Day Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14th annually and is associated with lovers, sweethearts or people who have an attraction to another, exchanging cards and/or gifts as a symbol of their affection. However, the history behind this day did not start out as such. Back in the time of ancient Rome, the 14th of February was seen as holiday to honour Juno, the Queen of Roman Gods and Goddesses. The following day marking what the Romans classed as the Ides of February (mid-February) a feast marked the celebration of heathen Gods in a feast called Lupercalia. It too was classed as a holiday and was a celebration that honoured the founders of Rome, twin brother Romulus and Remus and also the Gods, Luper and Faunus. Legend has it that Romulus and Remus were supposedly suckled by wolves in a cave on the Palantine Hill in the city of Rome and the cave was called the Lupercal. The hill and cave were used as the centre of the Lupercalia ceremonies and the priests of Lupercus would perform a pagan ceremony at the cave. The priests would dress in goatskins and sacrifice goats and a dog. They would then smear themselves with sacrificial blood prior to running around the hillside carrying a goatskin thong called a Februa (meaning: means of purification). Women from around the city who wished for fertility and easy childbirth would come and place themselves around the hill so that the priests could hit them with the Februa. It is from Februa that the name of the month of February is derived. Along with this part of the Lupercalia, the priests would also play ‘cupid' with the young men and women of the city by having the girls write down their names and place them in a box from which the young men would select a name and that woman would then be his partner for either the duration of the feast, for the year or even for life. It must be noted that the lives of young girls and boys in ancient Rome were strictly separate, hence this was a way for them to interact. Although Lupercalia was celebrated on the 15th which the Romans classed as the middle of the month, realistically the 14th is the middle of February as the month has 28 days apart from during a Leap year. Another slant on the origins of Valentine's Day stems from the fact that St. Valentine died on February 14th, 269 AD St. Valentine was a Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up Christianity. In 469 AD, Pope Gelasuis set aside February 14th to honour St. Valentine. St. Valentine lived under the rule of Emperor Claudius II. The Emperor found that his army numbers were lacking due to many Roman men not wanting to leave their wives or families. As a way to thwart this, Claudius ruled that there should be no more marriages and engagements in Rome. St. Valentine used to secretly perform marriage ceremonies and when found out, he was sentenced to death by decapitation. Over time, this date became synonymous with exchanging love notes and messages and St. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers. So, Valentine's Day is not necessarily readily associated with love as can be seen from the pagan rituals that were a part of the feast of Lupercalia. However, the fact that a man died for his beliefs in fanning the flames of love by encouraging people to marry, gives the day a deeper meaning. I, for one, would prefer to remember this day as one on which to reflect on the life of the saint who died for believing that two people who loved each other should be allowed to marry. St. Valentine is most deservedly the patron saint of lovers. Sources: http://miso.wwa.com/~jase/lupercalia/history.html http://www.pictureframes.co.uk/pages/saint_valentine.htm |
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