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that he be put to death.
Other stories suggest that Valentine may
have been killed for attempting to help
Christians escape harsh Roman pris-
ons, where they were often beaten and
tortured. According to one legend, an
imprisoned Valentine actually sent the
first “valentine” greeting himself after
he fell in love with a young girl–pos-
sibly his jailor’s daughter–who visited
him during his confinement. Before his
death, it is alleged that he wrote her a
letter signed “From your Valentine,”
an expression that is still in use today.
Although the truth behind the Valentine
legends is murky, the stories all empha-
size his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic
and–most importantly–romantic figure.
By the Middle Ages, perhaps thanks to
this reputation, Valentine would become
one of the most popular saints in Eng-
land and France.
ORIGINS OF VALENTINE’S DAY: A
PAGAN FESTIVAL IN FEBRUARY
While some believe that Valentine’s Day
is celebrated in the middle of Febru-
ary to commemorate the anniversary of
Valentine’s death or burial–
which
probably occurred
around A.D. 270–others claim
that the
Christian church may
have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an ef-
fort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of
February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the
Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.
To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would
gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of
Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests
would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip
the goat’s hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets,
gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being
fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to
make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all
the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city’s bach-
elors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen
woman. These matches often ended in marriage.
FEBRUARY 2016 -
SEXY GLAM
MAGAZINE -
47