Valentine’s Day & Lupercalia

Valentine’s Day originated from ancient fertility festival Lupercalia that Romans celebrated on 15. February. Romans had dedicated this day to the god Lupercus, a protector of the farmers, harvesting & packs of wild animals & in honor of Lupa, the Wolf who was said to have suckled Romulus & Remus, the children of Rhea Silvia & Mars, the God of War. The twins were taken from their mother to be exposed by the river Tiber to die. There on the banks of the river the twins were found by a Wolf, who suckled them until they were rescued by a shepherd. The twins later discover that their mother was the rightful daughter of the true king of Alba Longa, Numitor & that they are the heirs of the throne. Rome is later founded on the exact spot where the Wolf suckled the twins. Romulus kills his twin brother Remus in competition over where the city should be established.
Lupercus helped the Wolf take care of Romulus & Remus. This is why Lupercalia was a celebration that helped pregnant women.
This festival was also dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture. This was the season to start sowing seeds & to hope for a fertile year of crops. Faunus was later identified with Pan, the god of herds & fertility.
Venus & Cupid were associated with Lupercalia. Cupid was the son of Mercury, the winged messenger of the gods & Venus, the goddess of love. As part of the festivities, young boys smeared with the blood of sacrificed dogs & goats ran through the streets, whipping women with hides of the goats. The piercing of the women’s skin was believed to induce fertility. In a similar vein, it was believed that Cupid could cause love or desire by piercing his victims with gold-tipped arrows.
Young men also drew the names of women from a jar. The couple would lie together during the festival, in an effort to conceive.
When the Roman Empire became Christian, it evolved into a christianized form of the festival of Lupercalia. The church honored St. Valentine who was martyred at this time. However, much of the marriage & fertility traditions from the old ways persisted.
Emperor Claudius II had banned marriage because he thought married men were bad soldiers. Valentine felt this was unfair, so he broke the rules & arranged marriages in secret. When Claudius II found out, Valentine was thrown in jail & sentenced to death. There, he fell in love with the jailer's daughter & when he was taken to be executed on 14 February he sent her a love letter signed "from your Valentine".
The church replaced elements of love gods Juno Februata, Eros, Cupid, Kama, Priapus with St. Valentine, a chrystian imaginary. By taking over some of the features of the Pagan gods & goddesses, St. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers.