Valentine’s Day: A watered-down pagan Lupercalia
Romans didn't do festivals half-way.
10 February, 2019
Image source: Public Domain / Wikimedia
- Modern Valentine's Day is a far more restrained version of the pagan holiday it replaced.
- During Lupercalia, Romans got naked, drunk, and there was whipping involved.
- Romantic cards? How about simulated penetration?
<p><br></p>
<p>There's hardly a warmer or fuzzier holiday than Valentine's Day each February 14. It was created in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, or maybe Felix III according to historian <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-studies/article/god-of-the-lupercal/C3077F423905B3FED4403095D4F8737A" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">T.P. Wiseman</a>. Among those who helped reshape it into a day of romance were Chaucer and Shakespeare, and after Hallmark introduced the first Valentine's cards in 1913 it was on its way to becoming the celebration of hearts and flowers we know today. But it didn't start that way.</p><p>When Gelasius — or Felix — marked February 14th as the Feast of St. Valentine, he was absorbing a long-standing Roman, and likely pre-Roman, pagan holiday previously celebrated on February 15: Lupercalia. Forget touchy-feely. Lupercalia was intense. Various sources describe the festivities and their meaning differently, but they all describe a wild festival compared to the rom-com holiday we ended up with.</p>
St. Valentine, uh...
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTE3OTIwNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY3MzgwMjkwNH0.nA784dS4QLFr-tsGCOmE0W3VO5XaF0glkh3PZ3YAn18/img.jpg?width=980" id="30a98" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="536fa74c247b7f1c88f61c83cc003eae" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Facial reconstruction of St. Valentine, based on putative remains. Image source: Cicero Moraes/Wikimedia
<p> But first of all, St. Valentine. There may or may not have ever been a St. Valentine. Even Gelasius doesn't seem to have known much about him, referring to him as one of those "… whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God." The story goes that he was a third-century priest who was beheaded by Rome's Christian Emperor Claudius II for helping Christian Roman soldiers get married. That may or many not be true, but it's believed that Claudius had two men named Valentine beheaded in the third century, both of them on February 14th. Somewhere in here was Valentine of Interamna, who may or may not have been the same person as beheaded St. Valentine of Rome. There was also a third Valentine. Maybe.</p>Center of the action: Lupercal
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTE4MjAwNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2Nzg4NTIxNH0.ztaw4swIynUi8Dcr-QVGF7hD5lD05H-pVLJRYwTbsf8/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=43%2C148%2C43%2C148&height=700" id="9a13f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5b99eb459dd41fa109d7e682331d9123" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Lupercal cave was somewhere in Palatine Hill, Rome. Image source: Flickr user Roger W
<p>Lupercalia's "festivities" began in a cave called the Lupercal, which modern archeologists believe they <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7104330.stm" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">found</a> in 2007 on the north side of Palatine Hill in Rome. It was purported to be the shelter in which the twins of Roman mythology <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/Romulus_and_Remus/" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">Romulus and Remus</a> were suckled by a she-wolf (The Latin word is also slang for "prostitute," by the way, so, <em>hm</em> again.) Fourth-century pagan commentator Servius asserted that the cave was also the location at which the god Mars impregnated the twins' mortal mother, priestess Rhea Silvia.</p><p>That couple was said to have founded Rome, and that seems to be when the festival of Lupercalia started. The celebrations were conducted by the <em>Sodales Luperci</em>, a priestly college whose priests were known as <em>Luperci.</em> There were <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/the-roman-festival-of-lupercalia-121029" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">originally</a> by two families, or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentes" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1"><em>gentes</em></a>, within the college descended from the twins, the <em>Quinctilii</em> from Romulus, and the <em>Fabii</em> from Remus. Eventually, Julius Ceasar added the <em>Julii</em>— for "Julius?" — one of whom was Marc Antony.</p>Lupercalia was a bad day for goats. And puppies!
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTE3OTIxNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDY0MjY3NH0.xOXifW-Bz-YXyY0jNaj7p7enoaj5WPJ8W4mNtdduZfI/img.jpg?width=980" id="9af41" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5ec16741ab0244ebe51fc3a30a4a29d6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Relief of a herdsman. Image source: Wikimedia Commons
<p>Lupercalia began with sacrifices of two goats and a puppy. Not an adult dog — it had to be a puppy. Why? It may have been a tribute to the she-wolf. However, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarch" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">Plutarch</a>, speculating much later, suggested the tradition might have been handed down from the Greeks, who were apparently very fond of slaughtering adorable young dogs. They did it so often they even had a word for it, <em>periskulakismoi</em>, which is said to mean "purification by puppy."</p><p>As for the goats, sacrifice was just for openers. Romans stripped the flesh off of their carcasses and cut the material into furry thongs. (More on them in a moment.) They also spitted their entrails onto sticks to be eaten during the festival.</p>Also two rich boys
<p>Following the animal sacrifice, Luperci touched the heads of <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=AGVbAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA83&lpg=PA83&dq=Lupercalia+drink&source=bl&ots=zgMMf7z9w8&sig=JBMHJDnTNDX8d2KHokEil3sT1hg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjthd2Ex4PSAhXizFQKHZP5BK0Q6AEILDAD#v=onepage&q=Lupercalia%20drink&f=false" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">two young male nobles</a> with the blood-coated knives they'd used, after which wool dipped in milk would be rubbed on. Finally, with all that dripping down their faces, ears, and necks, the boys were expected to fake-laugh to conclude the ritual. It may have been about cleansing.</p>Thongs for the disturbing images
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTE3OTIyMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MTkzNDg5Mn0.2L-Gn1uuNwVBSwQuxeUJ7hkN8j76rVapJ_EcqM3tO3E/img.jpg?width=980" id="a5571" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="398f829e02ae0d32a8602a3cb4aafa81" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Camassei, circa 1635. Image source: Wikimedia Commons
<p>The goat thongs were called <em>februare</em>. So, yes, these strips of hairy goat flesh are what the second month of the year is named for.</p><p>In any event, what happened next is that the Luperci, and perhaps other upper-class men, stripped naked, were oiled and went running through Rome, whipping women with their thongs. (Plutarch suggested their nakedness was for speed.) There was, of course, plenty of alcohol involved for celebrants and spectators.</p><p>The intent of the whipping wasn't punitive, and women only pretend to run away from lashes that were believed to enhance their fertility. It may be that the lashes symbolized penetration. After 276 BCE, women were actually encouraged to expose their flesh, too. However, eventually, the men were apparently covering their genitals with loincloths for relative modesty by the time of Christ.</p><p>An interesting historical side note. Julius Caesar was offered the throne when Marc Antony placed a wreath on his head as the future emperor watched the Lupercalia festivities. It may be time to rework your mental image of that as being short at least one toga. Antony, as a <em>Juliiian</em>, would have been oiled and stark naked when he approached Caesar with the crown.</p>And then there’s Lupercus
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTE3OTIzNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTM3MDA3MH0.WrFtlVmQsek1sPXJTUDK4_w35YPyZ4uufS-1gST22Xw/img.jpg?width=980" id="78775" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="396eb439118b0c86c5b4d96e7d493c2a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />The wins and the she-wolf, circa 269-266 BC
(Curtius/Wikimedia)
<p> While the day of Lupercalia involved sharing tales of the Roman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faunus#/media/File:Pan_goat_MAN_Napoli_Inv27709_n01.jpg" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">Faunus</a> — who bestowed fruitfulness on "<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Faunus" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">field and flocks</a>" — the day was named for Lupercus. According to the <a href="https://pantheon.org/articles/l/lupercus.html" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1"><em>Encyclopedia Mythica</em></a>, Lupercus was an ancient Italian god who was both protector of their sheep from wolves, and a provider of fertility. The Latin root of the name is <em>lupus</em>, or wolf.</p>Getting it out of your system
<p>Considering that the Romans' new year began in March, it's likely that at least one aspect of Lupercalia was a cleansing of the spirit to start fresh at the new year. The sacrifices and bloody young men seem to fit with this idea, as might the wanton drunkenness and general debauchery of the festival. (There's said to be some overlap between Faunus and <a href="https://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/gods/pan/" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">Pan</a>.)</p>Modern Lupercalia, pagan-style
<p>For today's self-proclaimed pagans, Valentine's Day still contains themes from Lupercalia, regardless of the degree to which the wilder aspects have been tamed. <a href="https://paganhumanismcanada.wordpress.com/2014/01/18/lascivious-lupercalia-why-valentines-is-a-vital-pagan-holy-day-for-the-modern-world/" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">Paganhumanismcanada</a> considers it, "A sacred and religious celebration of human sexuality and passion, many of the elements and themes have been retained: valentine's cards [versus <em>februare</em>], red heart shapes, single people going home with partners, married women wanting children, lust, sex, fertility." While there appears to be no universal way to commemorate this day of the wolf, some have devised their own <a href="https://owlsandindigo.com/modern-lupercalia-ritual/" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">symbolic rituals</a>.</p>All of which brings us back to Valentine’s Day
<p>Of course, depending on who you ask, Valentine's Day can be every bit as unpleasant as Lupercalia sounds: It's the time of year for an involuntary inventory of one's love life. Singles and those with unhappy connexions can instead celebrate <a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Anti-Valentine%27s%20Day" target="_blank" data-vivaldi-spatnav-clickable="1">Anti-Valentine's Day</a>. For those whose long-term relationship has settled more into a partnership, it's likely to be met with a household decision to save the candy/flowers/gift money for something more practical.</p><p>On the other hand, if for you relationships merit nurturing and romance a refresher, try and put Lupercalia out of mind and seize the day to sweetly make your case, pagan or otherwise.</p>
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Where did Valentine's Day start? Lupercalia: Rome's most bizarre spring rite
Where does Valentine's Day come from? Let us introduce you to the festival of Lupercalia, a festival when naked young men and women ran around whipping one another with animal hides.
07 February, 2018
A young man dressed in sheepskin leather whipping a girl for fun, Lupercalia pastoral festival, drawing, Roman civilization, 2nd-1st century BC. (Getty Images)
Valentine’s Day is a weird holiday when you think about it. On a usually cold day—February 14—we eat chocolate, give greeting cards, celebrate romance, and find the need to make a big deal out of it in schools. While the modern holiday is, often correctly, viewed as a “Hallmark Holiday” the origins of the festival go back more than two thousand years to a Pagan ritual with strange customs and festivities that would make a modern romantic blush.
<p></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupercalia" target="_blank">The Roman festival of Lupercalia</a> is that Pagan ritual, and a very good candidate to be the original Valentine’s Day celebration. The origins of the holiday are a touch obscure, though it seems likely that many elements were pre-Roman. Lupercalia does seem to have inherited some of its activities from the earlier festival of <strong>Februa, </strong>which was dedicated to springtime purification. The name of February is derived from this festival. </p> <p></p><h2>What did people do during the Roman festival of Lupercalia?</h2> <p></p><p>A cult of priests known as the <em>Luperci</em> offered sacrifices of goats and dogs to the goddess Juno. This ceremony was carried out in the cave where the legendary founders of the city, Romulus and Remus, were saved by the she-wolf who nursed them. After the sacrifice, a feast was held. The hides of the sacrificed animals were then cut into strips by the priests.</p> <p></p><p> </p> <p></p><h2>Cool, huh? Well, now it gets strange.</h2> <p></p><p>Fertility rites were performed, in which naked women were struck with the hides of the sacrificed animals as the priests ran around Palatine hill counter-clockwise. This was intended to make the women more fertile and aid in childbirth. After this, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133693152/the-dark-origins-of-valentines-day" target="_blank">a matchmaking lottery was held</a>. All of this took place with the help of <em>a lot</em> of drinking. Clothing was optional for members of the public, and people rarely wore it as a result.</p> <p></p><div class="video-callout-placeholder" data-slug="mary-beard-on-sexual-practices-of-ancient-romans" style="border: 1px solid #ccc;">
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</div> <p></p><p>Plutarch, the great Roman historian, described it as such:</p> <p></p><p><br> <strong><em>..many of the noble youths and of the magistrates run up and down through the city naked, for sport and laughter striking those they meet with shaggy thongs. And many women of rank also purposely get in their way, and like children at school present their hands to be struck, believing that the pregnant will thus be helped in delivery, and the barren to pregnancy.</em></strong></p> <p></p><p><a href="http://www.ancient-origins.net/history/day-love-complex-origins-valentine-s-day-002672" target="_blank">Others agree with Plutarch</a>, telling us that the city was filled with naked young men and women who ran around whipping one another with animal hides.</p> <p></p><p>Some of the activities that we know about have meanings that are lost to us. For example, after the sacrifice of the goats and dogs, two Luperci would have their foreheads anointed in blood from the sacrificial knife. They would then have the blood wiped off with wool that had been soaked in milk. They were then expected to laugh or smile that this turn of events.</p> <p></p><p>The exact meaning of their expressions is lost to time.</p> <p></p><p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODI0MTI3NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNDA4Mjc2N30.ROWUcphy3m7Wuu4ithmGacciJDfrpqke4YBBOiORD7w/img.jpg?width=980" id="8bae3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f2cce55696e0125bab9bb66f5bcc0ede" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><br>The <em>Luperci</em> seeking out targets to whip as depicted by Adam Elsheimer. (Getty Images)</p> <p></p><h2>Lupercalia wasn’t a one-off thing either.</h2> <p></p><p>After the Romans added the month of February to their calendar, Lupercalia was placed on the fifteenth day of that month. The festival was popular. This was known and used by Julius Caesar when he publicly denied a crown during the festival, which added to his cult of personality. Lupercalia was celebrated continuously until around 500 C.E when regulations designed to stamp out Pagan rituals helped bring it to an end.</p> <p></p><p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODI0MTI3Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDQzMzU5OX0.HD_3dS-Vm5DKPlENNsbcgCD17q6OXNywFWWdRfNnLyw/img.jpg?width=980" id="26ae3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a55ee03cfa3915c2bbd35142c2946106" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"></p> <p></p><p><em>A member of the public armed with a whip to bring forth fertility. Was this the start of Valentine's Day? (Getty Images)</em></p> <p></p><p>Some researchers argue that Lupercalia was mostly done away with by Pope Gelasius I, who may have placed a feast of purification on that day. Others say that the festival was allowed to continue, with Christian overtones and clothing added. In any case, Valentine’s Day, named after a saint killed by the Romans, retains the approximate date and many of the romantic themes of the Roman Lupercalia.</p> <p></p><p>While the evidence for the exact fate of the holiday remains fuzzy, it is true that many Pagan festivals were <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D11jAEKgB2o" target="_blank">co-opted by the Christian church</a> rather than abolished. This makes it not only possible but <em>likely</em> that the holidays are related. Some historians, however, still reject the notion that Valentine’s Day was purposefully created to push out Lupercalia.</p> <p></p><p> </p> <p></p><h2>How did we go from Lupercalia to St. Valentine's Day?</h2> <p></p><p>Since the Middle Ages, <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/02/120213-valentines-day-gifts-cards-history-facts-naked-romans/" target="_blank">Valentine’s Day has gotten progressively sweeter</a>. This phenomenon was largely promoted by writers like Chaucer and Shakespeare who romanticized the courtly love aspects of the holiday. The first Valentine’s card was sent in 1415 by a French nobleman. Americans sent handwritten cards to one another as the holiday gained traction during the revolution. In the 1900’s the cards started to be mass produced.</p> <p></p><p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODI0MTI3Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1Njg1ODU3Nn0.s6I793G0pniNJl5qXOvn6TmGEHE_Vtsvrvxe9XWLigo/img.jpg?width=980" id="c430b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2e32654d656baa94739dd71c247ae05c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"></p> <p></p><p><em>This collection of Valentine's gifts in Cambodia suggests that the mass production goes much further than ever before. (Getty Images)</em></p> <p></p><p>It all seems a far cry from the drunken revelry in Rome. Today, we would hardly suppose that there was much of a relationship at all between the drunken Pagan fertility rites of Rome and Valentine’s Day if we were to watch both take place.</p> <p></p><p>While Valentine’s Day has become a fun, commercialized, slightly silly holiday dedicated to candy, cheesy TV specials, cards, and overpriced romantic dinners, the origins may be wilder than anything we would imagine. It is inevitable that holidays evolve, and customs change, but how severely they may do so is variable. The story of Lupercalia and Valentine's Day may show how a holiday can retain the same themes over 2,000 years and do a complete 180-degree turn on how those themes are expressed and celebrated. <br> <br>So go out and have a nice Valentine’s Day, and maybe be thankful that you don’t have to dodge naked people with whips on your way to the store. </p> <p></p><div class="video-full-card-placeholder" data-slug="how-to-sex-up-valentines-day" style="border: 1px solid #ccc;">
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