Wolves, Goats, Martyrs and War

 Valentines Day is among the most enigmatic of vacations, having actually appeared in numerous types. However all "Valentine's Days" have actually drawn suspicion. In fact, after hundreds of years of attempted reform, Christian observance came to an end when the Catholic Church purged St. Valentine's Day from its calendar in 1969.

Still, the vacation continues to influence an annual avalanche of cards, not to mention the mass consumption of chocolates, flowers and often, more expensive presents. What do we commemorate when we celebrate Valentine's Day?
- Keeping up the Wolves
If you have actually ever looked into the history of Valentines Day, you know it started with wolves and ancient Spring magic. The earliest circumstances we know of starts with the tough old shepherds and creators of Rome who feared and respected the wolves that preyed on their flocks. Once a year, they held sacrifices to Lupercus, the god of shepherds, enemy of wolves, and good friend of canines. Other shepherds sacrificed to Faunus, who also secured shepherds however was part goat.
The event, called Lupercalia, was held throughout early spring, which considering that time immemorial has been a season for purification. All the ancients saw that in the winter, the earth fell peaceful and covered itself in white. Late winter season and early spring was the time for human filtration likewise, to be followed closely by fertility magic.
- Something Old, Something New
Rome still commemorated Lupercalia after it had grown and end up being a terrific republic. In fact, all civic life came to a halt for the celebration.
Because of the Remus and Romulus legend, Lupercalia enjoyed great respect. Sons of noblemen were appointed to be Lupercalian priests, or luperci, and charged with a number of responsibilities. Each year they sacrified a pet dog (for Lupercal) and a goat (for Faunus) at the bottom of a cavern at Palantine Hill. Wearing nothing but goat hide, they cut thongs from the skin and ran the border of "old Rome," slapping females with the bloody strips. Females put themselves forward for this, suggesting to be cleansed and made fertile. (Our month of February, Febrarius, suggests "month of filtration.") Afterward, Rome enjoyed a love lottery in which young men drew young women's names from a jar and became their "partners" for a time.
Ultimately, the Roman upper-crust grew too refined to feel at ease with Lupercalia. Cicero smelled that the luperci were:
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A particular wild association of Lupercalian brothers, both clearly pastoral and savage, whose rustic alliance was formed before civilization and laws.
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A specific politician made sport of Lupercalia's anachronistic air by using his luperci skin to work and haranging his fellow senators.
Eventually, Lupercalia began to fall out of favor, although Augustus revived it for a time in a fit of nationwide patriotism.
- The Church Triumphant
The church is sometimes vilified for its Lupercalian edits. It discovered the love lottery game inappropriate, in addition to the luperci. But instead of prohibit the fete outright, it tried assimilation.
Initially, the love lottery game was changed with a high-minded version, where each man drew a saint instead of a woman and was welcomed to emulate that saint throughout the year. (This custom is often observed today). Then the filtration aspect was re-clothed in a feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, arranged for early February. As for fertility magic, the church dodged this entirely, although one can see traces of the purifying and "greening" impulse in the spirit and chapel decorations of Lent.
As for the fourteenth of February, the church dedicated the day to the Christian martyr, Valentine. Contrary to the sugared rumors that have emerged around him (or more accurately, them-- there were several St. Valentines), the saint likely had nothing to do with love or romance.
- Knights in Shining Armor
Lupercalia had been well and genuinely squelched in Rome. However to the west and north, where the Age of Chivalry triumphed, Europeans might not let the tradition molder and with childlike passion, revived it. The English cast off the papal practice of drawing saints, however their new ideas of chivalric love caused a more innocent type of boy/girl lottery game than Rome had ever seen. Girls made use of the power of dream pillows-- filled or pinned with aromatics like bay leaves or lavender-- to see their future mates. Little kids worn adult clothing and roamed the streets, carefully buffooning the "new" fascination with love:
" Good morning to you, valentine
Curl your locks as I do my own--.
2 before and three behind.
Good morning to you, valentine.".
Unlike the severe Lupercalian company of patriotism and the appeasement of gods, this kinder, gentler Valentine's day spoke of a young adult's coming-of-age. Chivalry's styles of chaste love and yearning played significant roles.
Hail, Bishop Valentine! Whose day this is.
All the air is thy diocese,.
And all the chirping choristers.
And other birds are thy parishioners ... composed Donne.
The world grows old over and over again, and in England, Valentine's Day aged with it. The custom of setting out for presents took hold, with the height of glamorous gifting potentially reaching its height around Remediation England. Lords gave Ladies rings and brooches of staggering worth, and even Samuel Pepys (not a well-known romantic) taped having actually provided his partner "a Turkey-stone set with diamonds." She was grateful, and as he noted, "I am glad of it, for it is fit the scalawag needs to have something to content herself with.".
- Initially Resistant.
Practical, puritanical America long held up against Europe's celebrations, warding off fairies, maypoles, effigy-burning and even Valentine's Day. Ladies were scarce in the severe days of the country's dawn, and shows and tell of affection were outlawed in any case. It wasn't until the Civil War that the country relented: long, lonely rifts in families endeared the saint to them at last. Prior to the war, fancy commercial valentines (including "mechanical" types) had actually begun to flood the market and grow more budget-friendly.
Of course, this uncharacteristic flood of romance might not go uncontrolled, and the extensive welcome of valentines was closely followed by the "vinegar" valentine, a comic and in some cases, caustic type.
When the war ended, and Americans sneaked into the light of Restoration, they found a newly industrialized country. Along with it came a transcontinental railway, typewriters, an internal combustion engine, and-- most importantly for Valentine's Day-- heart-shaped boxes filled with industrial chocolates (a gimmick invented by the Cadbury bros during the 1860s). Although fine diamonds and precious jewelry never rather became the standard amongst Americans, the standard "dish" of cards, flowers, and a heart-shaped box of chocolates had been sculpted in the national mind. Now Valentine's Day is just second to Christmas in number of cards purchased and sent.

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