Happy St. Valentine's!

02/14/08 22:48:59

To all those who celebrate it, Fragrantica wishes a happy St. Valentine's Day!

There are several legends and real historical events behind this joyous holiday. The pagan Roman festival in honor of the goddess June Februata and god Lupercus (the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Pan), which was celebrated on February 15 and was called Lupercalia (lupa, Latin for she-wolf) was devoted to the she-wolf which suckled Romulus and Remus in a cave Lupercal. Lupercalia was celebrated almost 3 centuries B.C., in times when mortality of children was very high and wars took many victims. The oracle said that women should be whipped with leather whips in order to improve the situation.

At the place where she-wolf suckled the orphan infants Romulus and Remus, priests would sacrifice two goats and a dog and make stripes of the goat skin. After the feast the priests, naked with their privates covered with the goat skin stripes, would whip women with the strips for the purpose of fertility blessing. Women, especially the newly wed, liked to be whipped in order to ensure fertility and easy childbirths. After that, women would strip naked and the orgies begun. At the end of the festival, a lottery would be organized. Young women would put their names in a casket to be drawn out by young men. The girls would then become their sexual partners for the time of the festival and sometimes longer.

This holiday was so popular that it was celebrated even by Christians. In 494 the Pope Gelasius I forbade this pagan festival, or better to say, he changed the symbols and the rituals, but kept its essence as the holiday of Love.

St. Valentine was a monk which was executed on February 14, 269 B.C. The Emperor Claudius ordered that St. Valentine would first be stoned and then decapitated. According to one version, St. Valentine perished because of his Christian faith, and according to another because of performing secret weddings of Roman soldiers, forbidden to marry by Claudius who thought that soldiers without families were more efficient.

According to the legend, while in dungeon, Valentine fell in love with daughter of his warder, whom he cured from blindness. Before he died he left her a note which contained a line 'From your Valentine'. So, the notes with names originate from pagan lottery, and later on from beautiful but sad legend about Valentine.

Subsequently, the story about Valentine became the main story behind the holiday, and St. Valentine its protector. In any case, this holiday has been dedicated to love since ancient times.

Fragrantica wishes you lots of love!

Sources: wikipedia, Valentine's Day History
Photos: jonfoster.com

Author: jeca (jeca)
Fragrantica Member