“More than a Hallmark holiday, Valentine’s Day, like Halloween, is rooted in pagan partying.
The lovers’ holiday traces its roots to raucous annual Roman festivals where men stripped naked, grabbed goat- or dog-skin whips, and spanked young maidens in hopes of increasing their fertility, said classics professor Noel Lenski of the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The annual pagan celebration, called Lupercalia, was held every year on February 15 and remained wildly popular well into the fifth century A.D.—at least 150 years after Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.
“It is clearly a very popular thing, even in an environment where the [ancient] Christians are trying to close it down,” Lenski said. “So there’s reason to think that the Christians might instead have said, OK, we’ll just call this a Christian festival.”
The church pegged the festival to the legend of St. Valentine.
According to the story, in the third century A.D. Roman Emperor Claudius II, seeking to bolster his army, forbade young men to marry. Valentine, it is said, flouted the ban, performing marriages in secret.”
Read more at National Geographic (thanks, SuZi)
Let’s hope guys wont spank their maidens today, unless it is a different type of spanking.
I’m sure all my Valentine cards and gifts will come in tomorrow, it is the postal service ofcourse, that screws up this beautifull day of love … ehehehe …
Do the chritians have any festivals that are their own or are they all pinched / highjacked from the pagans?
I’d like to wish you and everyone with a beard a very happy valentines day,
lots of love from The Bearded Theory Festival in Derbyshire xx
“So there’s reason to think that the Christians might instead have said, OK, we’ll just call this a Christian festival.”
Hahahahahahaha. Surprise, surprise.
Spanking of maidens still occurs in the Czech Republic. Friend of mine just moved there and copped it!
The annual pagan celebration, called Lupercalia, was held every year on February 15 and remained wildly popular well into the fifth century A.D.
Sorry to be pedantic but shouldn’t that say the 14th?
Not a holiday that is on the modern pagan Wheel of the Year…Someone should fix that
The story of St Valentine isn’t the oddest Christian interpretation I’ve heard though. In primary school, we were told that the Christmas tree was invented by Martin Luther, and that its triangular shape represented the Holy Trinity. *eye roll*
HAPPY VD, YOUSE GUYS!
No Alex, Lupercalia was on the 15th (at least according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupercalia )
Hmmmm… interesting, especially since there were TWO St. Valentines. Yes, one perfomed secret marriages, but the other, whose tradition leads to the anonymity of Valentines gifts and cards, was one who was saddened that girls had to prostitute themselves, and so when they hung out their stockings to dry, would drop coins into them. Hence they had less need for money.
That’s the one I prefer!
And Gail, yeah, there’s a pretty safe bet that Easter is exclusively Christian, and also the feast of Pentecost, although Pagans might disagree with the latter!
Think you will find Easter celebrations are also linked to pagan fertility beliefs (eggs, chicks, rabbits). Even the name is from the goddess Ishtar.