While Valentine’s Day is certainly a holiday that commemorates St. Valentine, it is possible that the date of celebrations has roots in a far earlier tradition. Just as scholars speculate that the placement of the Christmas and Easter holidays coincide with pagan holidays so that the Christian reformers could “un paganize” those pagan holidays, so do they wonder whether or not the date Valentine’s Day is celebrated was chosen to undercut the pagan festival of Lupercalia.
In Plutarch’s Life of Caesar, he describes Lupercalia as an ancient festival. If it was ancient in Plutarch’s time, it is indeed very, very old. While little is known about the pre Roman practices associated with the festival, we do have a firm understanding of the Roman celebration, and the mythology behind it. Lupercus is likely a Roman god associated with Pan – the god of shepherds. This is in line with the fuzzy pre Roman history, as Plutarch tells us that the “ancient” festival was held by shepherds.
So Lupercus is one factor in the festival of Lupercalia, but the name has roots in other mythology. The cave in which Romulus and Remus were cared for by the she wolf (traditionally called Lupa), was called the Lupercal. This cave was the spot where Lupercalia was celebrated on the ides of February (February 15th). There are records of the festival taking place in 44 B.C. after the Lupercal cave had been rebuilt by Augustus, thus solidifying the theory that this festival had been going on for many years.
The purpose of the festival was to bring in the spring by purging impurities and preparing for the fertile months. Before the festival, people would clean their houses thoroughly (hence, “spring cleaning”) and would sprinkle salt and spelt throughout to purify and protect their home. When it came time for the festival, many of the townspeople would wait in town for the kickoff.
High up members of the Roman religious society were called the “brothers of the wolf” start the festival at the mouth of the Lupercal by dressing in goatskins and sacrificing two goats and a dog. They would then anoint young successors to the order. Then the sacrificial feast would begin, and it would be a town wide celebration. After the sacrificial feast, the brothers of the wolf would take strips of the sacrificed animals and run around the city slapping people with them.
Rather than shy away from getting smacked with a strip of sacrificed goat, females would welcome it, as it was meant to promote fertility and to guarantee easy childbirth in the coming year. The crops would also receive a smack of the strips, to ensure that the agriculture would thrive in the coming months. After this ritual, all the unmarried women would put their names in a big urn and the unmarried men would choose one. Often times, these choices would result in marriage. This practice continued until 498 A.D., when Pope Gelasius decided that the practice was “un Christian.” This was the same year he named February 14th Valentine’s Day rather than Lupercalia.
Today Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, France, and Mexico, and people send cards to their sweethearts. Additionally, Valentine’s Day is a big day for wedding proposals, as well as an occasion to give expensive gifts of precious jewelry like gold, pearls, and diamonds.
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