Most festivals in the Christian calendar can be traced back to pre-Christian times and the era of the Celts. Some claim that St Valentine's Day is yet another Pagan celebration hijacked by the Christians but is there any truth in this?
Do you find Valentine’s Day a little mushy and too sweet for your tastes? Well here’s an alternative that by some accounts is quite the opposite; in fact it’s said to have been a highly sexually charged affair involving blood, violence, sacrifice and random coupling. There's a natural human urge to dramatize and exaggerate for a good story so let's see what history can tell us about this whole affair.
Lupercalia was a festival celebrated on 15th February every year, the earliest mention of which seems to be in the 6th Century BC. It was a pastoral celebration of fertility and health thought to welcome in the Spring and bring luck and health for the lambing season and for women trying to conceive.
Lupercalia was a pagan festival started by the Luperci priests of the Lazio region of Italy which involved sacrificing both a goat and a dog. After cutting strips from the animals hide they would run a circuit of the city. Women who wished to enhance their likelihood of being fertile that year would hold out their palms to be “whipped” by this thong. The celebration appears to have been a gleeful affair for the youth of the city wishing to embrace the new year and encourage pregnancy and a bountiful harvest.
Who Saint Valentine was is vague at best. The third century Roman Emperor Claudius is associated with at least two men named Valentine. Both of these men were sentenced to death by Claudius and are associated with stories of heroic deeds that defied Emperor Claudius’s decrees and went on to be martyred.
The festival of Lupercalia survived until the end of the 5th Century AD when it was banned by Pope Gelasius for being “un-Christian”. Not long after this the Pope declared the 14th February a day of feasts to celebrate "Saint Valentine".
A Saint Valentine's Day is next documented by Chaucer in his poem "The Parliament of Fowls" in 1375. This day appears to be in honour of Spring and the birds gathering to "choose their mate".
The modern celebration of romantic love evolved around the 15th Century with messages and cards sent between lovers and grew in popularity over the following centuries.
In conclusion I imagine that the Christian St Valentine’s Day could well have been introduced and encouraged to appease the people before banning Lupercalia altogether.
What do you think? I'd love to hear your opinions so feel free to comment 😊