| "It's a Hallmark holiday" claim the skeptics. You | | | | they selected from a bowl. The pairing continued |
| need a card, a present, a meal in a restaurant. | | | | for the length of the festival and sometimes |
| You're obliged to spend, spend, spend.But | | | | beyond.As Christianity gradually advanced through |
| Valentine's Day precedes consumerism, | | | | Europe the church replaced pagan festivals with |
| corporations, greeting cards, civilisation and even | | | | festivals more suited to the new faith. They kept |
| Christianity. It is an expression of what it is to be | | | | the days of the festivals the same to ease the |
| human. While every day pressures squeeze the | | | | introduction of the new religion but they changed |
| romance out of life, Valentine's day is an island of | | | | the name and the reason for the festival. The |
| corny indulgence in a giant sea of cynicism.One | | | | Lupercalia's pairing of men and women went |
| early attempt at valentine romance, saw me | | | | against the teachings of Christianity. In 496 AD |
| commit several days to preparation. Roses, a | | | | Pope Gelasius ended the festival of Lupercalia and |
| three course meal, as exotic as a slightly green | | | | replaced it with St. Valentine's Day. St. Valentine |
| eighteen year old could muster and on top of that | | | | was declared the patron saint of lovers. The |
| a singing waiter (an extroverted mate dressed | | | | pairing of couples was replaced and people were, |
| up) to serve the food.In retrospect the menu | | | | instead, paired with a saint. The name of a saint |
| was bizarre. Raw cauliflower and carrots with a | | | | would be drawn from a bowl and the person who |
| mayonnaise and curry powder dip. For the main | | | | chose it would then learn about, and try to |
| course a slightly watery stir fried rice dish (I didn't | | | | emulate that saint for the following year.Pairing |
| have a strainer to strain the rice). This was laced | | | | with a saint and the churches concept of St. |
| with an over generous helping of chilli peppers, all | | | | Valentine's Day lasted hundreds of years, but the |
| teenage boys first learn to cook with chilli | | | | spirit of the Lupercalia lived on in hearts, minds |
| peppers. For dessert strawberries and bananas | | | | and spirits of the people. By the 15th Century |
| with a chocolate dip. Ah the deep hormonal | | | | eligible singles began pairing again. Medieval knights |
| motivations of eighteen year old boys. Everything | | | | drew the names of their valentines from bowls |
| was in place and my mate, the singing waiter | | | | and wore the names on their sleeves swearing to |
| completed my love trap.Maybe the fascination and | | | | honour and protect them. They would sing love |
| intrigues of being in love and particularly the | | | | songs and profess their love with poetry. |
| physical side of it are not the preserve of | | | | Eventually it became customary to write the |
| eighteen year old boys. Valentines day has its | | | | verses down for your lover to read and by the |
| origins in ancient Rome and it has survived | | | | 1600's Valentine cards had become quite |
| centuries of religious interference and censorship | | | | elaborate. Possibly due to the fact that most |
| to return to resemble what it originally was - a | | | | people were unable to read or write intricate |
| celebration of love and pairings.The Lupercalia was | | | | handmade paper valentines became a normal |
| a Roman festival celebrated on the 15th Day of | | | | mode of exchange between lovers on Valentines |
| February. In the Roman calendar February was | | | | Day and the first of what could be recognised as |
| later in the year and so the Lupercalia was a | | | | a valentines card appeared.Their popularity was |
| spring festival.This festival was even old to the | | | | sufficient that by the early 1800's commercially |
| Romans, they were unsure of which deity it | | | | produced Valentines were available. Initially they |
| honoured. It emerged from the days when Rome | | | | were hand painted by factory workers but by |
| was a small shepherding community on a hill called | | | | 1900 valentines were made entirely by machines |
| the Palantine and could have honoured Lupercus, | | | | using woodcuts and then eventually |
| who protected flocks against wolves, Rumina | | | | lithographs.Today's Valentine cards are frequently |
| whose temple overlooked the place where the | | | | anonymous. They emphasise either a sense of |
| she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus or Faunus | | | | humour, reputed to be the greatest aphrodisiac, |
| the god of shepherds and agriculture.Before the | | | | or a sense of romance - and occasionally both. |
| times of the great city of Rome the Lupercalia | | | | Modern valentine cards can be rude, suggestive, |
| was a very joyous occasion. The foreheads of | | | | funny and cheeky as often as romantic. There |
| two youths were smeared with the blood of a | | | | anonimity adds to the intrigue, hopes and |
| sacrificed dog and goat. They then made their | | | | fantasies. Love and romance are a deep part of |
| way around the perimeter of the city of Rome | | | | the human condition, despite the church's early |
| followed by priests lightly tapping women on the | | | | attempts to change its meaning the spirit of the |
| way with strips of the goats skin. This act was to | | | | Lupercalia lives on today. It has survived |
| protect them against infertility.As Rome became | | | | thousands of years and it is likely to be around |
| the dominant civilisation of the era, the Lupercalia | | | | for many more.As for the success of my early |
| continued as an important part of the calendar. | | | | romantic dabblings. Well the waiter was flat; the |
| The seeds of the modern St. Valentine's Day | | | | food was uncomfortable on the palette, and my |
| were sewn by Roman soldiers who took the | | | | date? Well, she was polite, ate as much as she |
| Lupercalia customs with them to countries they | | | | could stomach and made her excuses and left, |
| conquered and occupied. One such custom was | | | | probably for home and a pint of Gaviscon. |
| the pairing of men with women whose names | | | | |