Written by: Hannah Field | News Editor

Content warning: this article contains mentions of blood, animal sacrifices and violence

Valentine’s Day was originally a pagan holiday celebrating fertility — taking place from Feb. 13–15, going back as far as the sixth century B.C. Since then, Valentine’s Day has taken a turn toward romantic celebrations and acts of kindness, when originally, in Rome, men were stripped, blood was shed and animals were sacrificed, all in hopes of warding off evil curses and keeping the Roman fertility god, Lupercus, happy.

Lupercus, as well as the she-wolf Lupa — who, according to legend, protected and raised the eventual founders of Rome — inspired the title Lupercalia: the holiday now known as Valentine’s Day. The day revolved around a feast that involved animal sacrifices and streaking men. Those same men would whip women with strips of the sacrificed goats’ hides which was believed to cause ripe fertility.

The Luperci, a group of Roman priests, would perform the goat and dog sacrifices and follow it up with touching a bloody knife on two Luperci’s foreheads, which was then wiped off with wool dipped in milk. Part of the sacrificial rituals involved the Luperci laughing — a requirement to please Lupercus.

Saint Valentine holds more mystique around the founding of the holiday. The most common theory is that Saint Valentine was executed by the Roman Emperor Claudius II for secretly marrying Christian couples, during the third century A.D., a time when Christians were being persecuted. 

Another legend proposes that Valentine was in love with his jailer’s daughter while imprisoned — writing her a love letter and signing it, “From your Valentine.”

Valentine was declared a Saint by the Catholic Church well after his death when he was martyred on Feb. 14 — Valentine’s Day. This later became celebrated closer to the late fifth century A.D., when Pope Gelasius I replaced Lupercalius with a day in honor of the Saint’s martyrdom. This first example of Valentine’s Day, although similar in title, did not become the modern day celebration of love that people now know it as.

Some characteristics remain the same between modern Valentine’s Day and Lupercalia. The white color we know today to be part of Valentine’s Day relates to the milk-dipped wool from the Luperci sacrifices; red and pink correspond with the theme of blood, despite the fact that neither are current aspects of Valentine’s Day.

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu