I have often wondered how many of us really know the origin of Valentine’s Day and for the purpose of it. Even today there is some confusion of how and when Valentine’s Day started and what was the initial intention of it.
Today we celebrate Valentine’s Day as a day of love and beauty. Valentine hearts are given and traded among peers, red roses are sent to loved ones, and candy is often given as a sweet affection to someone through love or even to a mutual acquaintance.
Many believe that Valentine’s Day started as a pagan celebration by the Romans called the festival of Lupercalia. After reading some material about this festival leaves me wondering how in the world, we could get Valentine’s Day out of the rituals that took place in these times. The sacrifice of goats for fertility and dogs for purification, the young men would take the hides of the goats and cut them into strips and then dip them into sacrificial blood. The young women would then be gently slapped with the strips because it was believed it would make them fertile during the coming year.
