Valentine's Day is rapidly approaching! Many people nowadays consider it to be an overly commercialised day, however the increase in public displays of affection - or private ones - never fail to elicit a reaction, as cringe worthy as it may be, it is still likely to be a positive one. But where did it all start?
The origins of St Valentine's Day are unclear. Many believe that, given their similarities, the holiday has origins in the Roman festival of Lupercalia, which took place in mid-February.
Luper-what?
Lupercalia was an ancient, quite possibly pre-Roman pastoral annual festival,
observed in the city of Rome from the 13th to the 15th of February to
avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility.
Lupercalia was also called
dies Februatus, after the instruments of purification called
februa, which gave February
(Februarius) its name. The festival is also said to have been originally known as Februa ("Purifications" or "Purgings") after the
februum (singular of
februa) which was used on the day. It was also known as
Februatus and gave its name variously, as epithet to Juno Februalis, Februlis, or Februata in her role as patron deity of that month; to a supposed purification deity called Februus;
and to February (
mensis Februarius), the month during which the festival occurred. Ovid connects
februare to an Etruscan word for "purging". Some sources connect the Latin word for fever (
febris) with the same idea of purification or purging, due to the "sweating out" commonly associated with fevers.
The name Lupercalia was believed in antiquity to evince some connection with the Ancient Greek festival of the Arcadian Lykaia, a wolf festival (Greek: λύκος, lýkos; Latin: lupus), and the worship of Lycaean Pan, assumed to be a Greek equivalent to Faunus, as instituted by Evander. Justin describes a cult image of "the Lycaean god, whom the Greeks call Pan and the Romans Lupercus", as nude, save for a goatskin girdle.
The statue stood in the Lupercal, the cave where tradition held that
Romulus and Remus were suckled by the she-wolf (Lupa). The cave lay at
the foot of the Palatine Hill, on which Romulus was thought to have founded Rome. The name of the festival most likely derives from
lupus,
"wolf", though both the etymology and its significance are obscure.
Despite Justin's assertion, no deity named "Lupercus" has been
identified. The equivalent of Pan in the Roman pantheon would in fact be Faunus.
The festival, which celebrated the coming of
spring, included fertility rites and the pairing off of women with men
by lottery. At the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius I
forbade the celebration of Lupercalia and is sometimes attributed with
replacing it with St. Valentine’s Day, but the true origin of the
holiday is vague at best.
Wolves Block Calendar - Stock ItemThe Lupercalia had its own priesthood, the Luperci ("brothers of the wolf"), whose institution and rites were attributed either to the Arcadian culture-hero Evander, or to Romulus and Remus. The Luperci were young men (iuvenes), usually between the ages of 20 and 40. They formed two religious associations based on ancestry; the Quinctiliani and the Fabiani. In 44 BC, a third association [also known as a college], the Juliani, was instituted in honour of Julius Caeser. The college of Juliani disbanded or lapsed following Caesar's assassination, and was not re-established in the reforms of his successor, Augustus.
At the Lupercal altar, a male goat (or goats) and a dog were sacrificed by one or another of the Luperci, under the supervision of the Flamen dialis, Jupiter's chief priest. An offering was also made of salted mealcakes, prepared by the Vestal Virgins. After the blood sacrifice, two Luperci approached the altar. Their foreheads were anointed with blood from the sacrificial knife, then wiped clean with wool soaked in milk, after which they were expected to laugh.
Moonstruck Canvas Print - Stock ItemThe sacrificial feast followed, after which the Luperci cut thongs (known as februa) from the flayed skin of the animal, and ran with these, naked or near-naked, along the old Palatine boundary, in an anticlockwise direction around the hill. The Luperci completed their circuit of the Palatine, then returned to the Lupercal cave.
A Festival of Love?
During Lupercalia, men randomly chose a woman's name from a jar to be coupled with them for the duration of the festival. Often, the couple stayed together until the following year's festival. Many are said to have fallen in love and married.
Valentine’s Day uses some of Lupercalia’s symbols, but whether it is intentional or not is subject to debate. Two that come to mind are the colour red which represented a blood sacrifice during Lupercalia and the colour white which signified the milk used to wipe the blood clean and represents new life and procreation.
Essentially it can be said that the origins of Valentine's Day, whilst still pretty mysterious given that it is likely that more than one person called Valentine existed, it is still linked to some degree of love.
Modern Day Valentine's Celebrations
Many people nowadays choose to celebrate Valentine's Day irrespective of their beliefs, and it has become one of the most popular secular holidays. Some people feel it is too heavily commercialized, and so opt to celebrate it as a day for self love and self care.
Living a very fast paced life will often leave us with little time to focus on our own physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. Using this day for some much valued and sorely needed me time is a great way to celebrate a festival of love.
Running a warm bath, or shower, can be a self love ritual within itself. Focusing on yourself, checking in with your body to see how it is doing, limb by limb, can help you find out what areas you need to take care of. That mystery bruise, that ache which you thought was due to bad posture, that mark left behind on your skin from your clothes - what can be done to help you feel more comfortable in your own skin? This is the perfect exercise to carry out during such a brief break from the frantic life you usually lead.
Now is the time to get in touch with your inner Aphrodite - irrespective of your gender. Aphrodite is not just the Goddess of Love - she is also Goddess of Lust, Beauty, Pleasure, Passion, Procreation - and a Warrior Goddess too. Being associated with the sea makes a self love bath even more appropriate in this case!
Anyway, I could go on and on forever (and a day) about this topic - I'll stop here for today. Back to focusing on other work duties I go! It may be a public holiday here in Malta today, but for me, it is just another work day. And on that note, my next appointment is at the door.
Until next time!
Ros 💜
