St. Valentine's
Day is the result of the unlikely combination of a Pagan
celebration and a Saint of the Catholic Church. In Pagan
history, February 14th and 15th was the celebration of
Lupercalia, a festival held honoring Juno, Queen of the
Roman Gods and Goddesses. Juno was the Goddess of Women
and Marriage. During the festival of Lupercalia a lottery
was held where young men drew names of women out of a
box. The name they drew was the name of their sweetheart
for the entire year. The couple would exchange gifts and
often they would fall in love.
Many legends
are told of St. Valentine and the origin of Valentine's
Day. One story is of how Valentine, a believer in love,
went against the Roman emperor of the time, Claudius II
by marrying couples secretly. Claudius II believed strongly
that single men made better soldiers than married men;
therefore he set out to build a strong military of single
men. When Claudius II learned of the secret marriages
St. Valentine was conducting, he jailed Valentine and
later executed him on February 14th, now established as
Valentine's Day.
Another legend
states that Valentine was an imprisoned man who fell in
love with a forbidden woman, the jailors daughter. He
wrote letters to his love proclaiming his love to her
and he signed these letters with the popular phrase used
today, "Your Valentine."
Some people
believe St. Valentine's Day was celebrated in the middle
of February in honor of his death which occurred around
270 A.D. Other's think St. Valentine's Day was started
to "christianize" the Lupercalia festivals.
No matter what the reason was, February 14th was officially
recognized as St. Valentine's Day around 498 A.D. by Pope
Gelasius.
Today we do
not use the tradition of the Lupercalia lottery; however
that ancient tradition has some symbolic meaning. Choosing
a random name out of a box symbolizes the idea that one
cannot choose who they fall in love with. Cupid is a sneaky
little God.
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