Amos Stevens
New Member
300 B.C. -- The Origins of Valentine's Day
A common pagan custom was a form of lottery dating. On the eve of the festival, the names of Roman girls are written on slips of paper and placed in jars. After a boy draws a name, the girl is stuck with that chump as her boyfriend for a year. Though it sounds a little bit like a swinging '70s key party, the practice apparently was quite popular.
At about this time, pagan priests begin to gather on the Ides of February -- Feb. 15 -- at the cave of Lupercal to honor Faunus, the rural god of crops and herds. In one ritual, noble boys run through the streets and lash girls who wear hide thongs called februa. The lashes -- called februatio -- are (apparently) welcomed by young women as a fertility ritual. This strange ritual is the origin of the word "February." The festival, known as Lupercalia, lasts for eight centuries. In a somewhat different form, it continues today as Valentine's Day.
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1415 -- The First Valentine
Charles, Duke of Orleans, writes the first true valentine. While imprisoned in the Tower of London after the Battle of Agincourt, he sends a missive to his wife. The greeting can be read today at the British Museum in London.
Around this time, Cupid becomes associated with the Valentine tradition. For romantic poets of the middle ages, Feb. 14 is also believed to be the onset of the mating season of birds.
http://ia.local6.com/valentines/1185460/detail.html
A common pagan custom was a form of lottery dating. On the eve of the festival, the names of Roman girls are written on slips of paper and placed in jars. After a boy draws a name, the girl is stuck with that chump as her boyfriend for a year. Though it sounds a little bit like a swinging '70s key party, the practice apparently was quite popular.
At about this time, pagan priests begin to gather on the Ides of February -- Feb. 15 -- at the cave of Lupercal to honor Faunus, the rural god of crops and herds. In one ritual, noble boys run through the streets and lash girls who wear hide thongs called februa. The lashes -- called februatio -- are (apparently) welcomed by young women as a fertility ritual. This strange ritual is the origin of the word "February." The festival, known as Lupercalia, lasts for eight centuries. In a somewhat different form, it continues today as Valentine's Day.
---------------------
1415 -- The First Valentine
Charles, Duke of Orleans, writes the first true valentine. While imprisoned in the Tower of London after the Battle of Agincourt, he sends a missive to his wife. The greeting can be read today at the British Museum in London.
Around this time, Cupid becomes associated with the Valentine tradition. For romantic poets of the middle ages, Feb. 14 is also believed to be the onset of the mating season of birds.
http://ia.local6.com/valentines/1185460/detail.html
