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