Valentine's Day is a lot better than it used to be...

Valentine's Day is a time to celebrate love, send amorous cards, and demonstrate commitment via chocolate.  But February 14 was not always this affectionate.  The first historical activities attributed specifically to February 14 were the festivities and rituals surrounding the Roman festival of Lupercalia.  

It wasn't until after the AD 400s that the Roman Catholic Church modified the Lupercalia festival with another celebration honoring  an ancient martyr named Saint Valentine who was, according to legend, executed in the mid 200s by Emperor Claudius and buried on February 14.  

The Roman festival of Lupercalia honored the memory of Lupa, the she-wolf who saved the lives of Romulus and Remus, the twin brothers who later founded the city of Rome.  Lupercalia was also a festival of sacrifice.  The ceremony began when goats and dogs were killed, and their blood was used to anoint young men.  These individuals were anointed with the blood of these animals, dressed in the bloody skins of the dead goats, and then they were expected to run about the city hitting women with strips of bloody goat flesh.  The women who were struck were believed to be blessed with good fortune and fertility.  

As for the modern practice of sending of cards, or "Valentines," the tradition was allegedly started by St. Valentine himself who wrote a letter to an anonymous women before he was put to death.  Legend states that he wrote of his undying love for the woman, and signed the note with the phrase, "your Valentine."  

So, this Valentine's Day, remember that when someone asks you to "be their Valentine" they are asking quite a lot of you.  By agreeing to be someone's Valentine, you consent to being dressed in goat skin, and to beating women with bloody goat flesh before being executed yourself (if you are a male), or to being flailed by the same goat flesh by your love interest prior to his incarceration and execution (if you are a female).  But since we don't permit that sort of behavior in our modern American society, sending an over-priced piece of paper that states your feelings of love in words you didn't even compose, followed by a box of cheap chocolates filled with fat and sugar that cost less to produce than the box they come in, will probably be just fine.  

Happy Valentine's Day