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EXUAL LOVE
has always
been the essential ingre–
dient in the observance of
St. Valentine's Day. This
was true in a nc ien t
Rome, during the Middle Ages,
and it is true today. Moreover,
the mid-February date of this
observance has not changed. Only
the name of the game h as
changed, since February 14 is the
eve of the Roman festival origi–
nally called
Lupercalia.
The Valent ine of Roman days
was less refined, however, than its
modero celebration. After sacri–
fice of goats and a dog, the
priests, called
Luperci,
tradit ion–
ally ran, in two bands, a marked
course around the city on this
day, scantily d ressed only in
goatskin girdles and carryi ng
strips of goatski n with which they
st ruck women to take away their
infertility. The strips bore the
February 1981
by
G.O. Marx
name
februa ,
a word connected
withfebruare,
"to purify," hence
the day was called Februatus and
the month Februarius.
Lupercalia
was, or became,
connected with t he legend ary
she-wolf (Latin
lupus=wolf)
who
suckled Remus and Romulus, the
eponymous founders of Rome;
and "wolf' was a synonym in
Rome for a sexually avai lable
woman. So the day became con–
nected wi th Venus, goddess of
sexual love. Venus' son Cupid
also played an important part in
this lave feast.
Roman mythology ascribes to
mother and son the power to
instiU passion in people, and with
their love potion they also had the
power to make love cease. Cupid
is o ften portr ayed shooting
ar rows into t he hearts of hapless
victims. Usually naked , winged
and armed with a bow and arrow,
cupids are sti ll portrayed in mod–
ero times on Valentine cards, in
theater decor and the like.
F lrst Christ ian Valentina
As can be well imagined, a bawdy
festival of sex and love was popu–
lar with the masses of Rome. T he
Christian-professing church, on
the other hand, had no desire to
perpetuate
Lupercalia
and so
tried to uproot this love feast. But
the attempt met with failure. The
pagan population of the empire,
as well as many recently con–
verted Christians, continued its
observation.
Eventually the church decided
that t he only way this matter
could be handled was to Jet the
g reat masses of the empire,
including members of the church,
continue keeping the
Luperca/ia
feast, but to rededicate it for
another purpose. This policy of
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