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Happy Lupercalia! Well, Maybe Not

30 Comments

Although the origins of St Valentine’s Day are somewhat shrouded in mystery, it’s likely that it was intended by the early Christian church to replace the ancient Roman fertility feast and celebration of Lupercalia with a more religious one.

Lupercalia was evidently a licentious, drunken, three-day blowout from February 13-15 where animals were sacrificed and their skins used to beat young women – apparently to ensure their fertility – followed by young men pulling the names of these young women from a jar as part of a mating ritual: the lottery of love!

Sounds brutal. I think I would have been in hiding somewhere outside the Palatine Hill. Yikes.

Ostensibly, into this mix came a couple of early Christian priests named Valentine, both of whom were executed by Emperor Claudius II on February 14 but in different years. They were honoured by the early church with a celebration in their name: St. Valentine’s Day.

About three centuries later, Pope Gelasius tried to get people to wear clothes and to eliminate the pagan aspects of Lupercalia by reframing it as St. Valentine’s Day, which was supposed to be a day of religious reflection and observance.

In the meantime, though, the busy Normans were celebrating something called Galatin’s Day – galatin meant “lover of women.” It seems that the word galatin became confused with Valentine, the Normans conquered England and passed it on, and the rest is history. The pope’s effort to make the original celebration a religious one was in vain.

Throw in some major romanticism from Chaucer and Shakespeare and we now have a “day of love” that’s cast in stone – or maybe that’s rose petals.

Happy Valentine’s, everyone. ❤️

30 thoughts on “Happy Lupercalia! Well, Maybe Not”

  1. Thanks for all the interesting information Lynette. I guess now we can throw in the commercial aspect, a chance for companies to make money between Christmas and Easter.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you very much, Jude.
      I agree that big businesses in particular have really pushed it in order to raise sales between Christmas and Easter. I’m not of much help to them as for many years I have resisted being told how or when I should celebrate something, including how much I should spend.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. I think many would be surprised at the origins of our modern day celebration days. They all seem to have been started as Pagan celebrations and then subverted by future generations and corporations. All I can say is thank goodness the animal skin part is gone. Flower petals are much nicer. Happy Valentine’s Day Lynette. Allan

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Thanks, Allan.
      I couldn’t agree more about the animal skins. Yes, many celebrations coming from the UK, Europe and Ireland for the most part had their start with pre-Christian deities before being re-cast by time and religion and then repackaged by commercial interests. I agree that many aren’t aware of the origins of these celebrations and how commercialism is controlling much of our perception of them.

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  3. Thank you for writing this. I knew a few bits of this but not the whole sordid story. History is endlessly fascinating when you take the long view, violent too of course, but good to realize where traditions came from and how they got to be what they are today.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. You’re very welcome. I’ve always been particularly interested in Greek and Roman history and how it still influences us today. Throw in commercialisation and then the expectations around some of these ancient celebrations can become quite high. Always good to remember that we don’t have to follow what business (or tradition) expects. Cheers.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Most of our celebratory days have long pasts with lots of layers which I find interesting reading. Agreed – Valentine’s Day has certainly grown up. I’m much happier with the rose petals than the animal hides!

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Great post. What the Hell were they thinking? Who wants to give up a three day orgy for a solemn religious observance? Some people I will never understand. Be sure to give and receive lots of love today, the rest of those days, too.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you very much, Kenny. 😊
      I’m definitely glad that the whole animal-hides-and-beatings bit has been consigned to history. Yikes.
      Agreed – the whole point of Valentine’s Day should continue year-round. Cheers.

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    1. Thank you very much, Belinda.
      Yes, I’m definitely with you. Lupercalia certainly sounds wild, maybe even crazy as it’s fairly well documented that during their festivities the Romans sometimes drank to the level of alcohol poisoning. Ugh.

      Liked by 1 person

  8. Interesting. I think it’s probably in the last century or so that modern consumerism is what made what we have today. And considering Lupercalia, thank God for that!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes, I agree Lori, especially about Lupercalia. Sounds hideous to me. Apparently the Tudors during Shakespeare’s day were the ones who popularised the idea of cards or letters, jewellery and chocolates (among those who could afford it, anyway). Then of course big business got on it, especially in the last 30 years or so. We are going to have a favourite dinner at home; we don’t find it fun to go to busy, overworked and crowded restaurants on Valentine’s Day. Cheers. 💛

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  11. The early celebration sounds brutal, like you mentioned. Unfortunately, today’s offerings of flowers flown thousands of miles and chocolate obtained using inhumane labor practices don’t make it much better. Like you mentioned, a quiet dinner at home is probably the best option. Thanks for sharing this; it’s quite interesting.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. You’re very welcome. 😊
      I agree, Tricia. Flowers flown around the world, inhumane labour practises and there’s so much more. Factory farming springs to mind as one example. Human consumption is really out of control, aided and abetted by big business trying to get us to spend money on Valentine’s flowers, Hallowe’en fripperies and whatever else. We need to be better about what we’re buying, that’s for sure.

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