alt.valentine
2005-02-15, 12:26 p.m.

An abbreviated history of Valentine's Day / The Feast of Lupercalia. By Me.

When the Roman calendar was a bit different, the Spring festivals were held in the month of February. The Feast of Lupercalia was on February 15 to celebrate the gods Lupercus and Faunus � the gods of fertility and husbandry, and the day was more about lust and fertility than about "love." Lupercus�s priests are said to have donned goatskins and to have sacrificed goats and rolled about in their blood, and taken strips of goathide and run through the streets or through the countryside whipping women, which was believed to have increased the women's fertility. Also at the festival, there was a lottery where the girls in the villages would put their names in a vase or bowl and the men would pull out the names. Stories vary as to what this meant she had to do, but they were paired for the rest of the festival at the very least. It�s possible that this may be an origin of the Valentine�s card.

February 14, 2005:

So last night I went to my friend Lance's house to have "anti-Valentine's Day" but as we were sipping red wine and eating berries and chocolate kisses and looking at the little torches he lit on his porch so I could find his house we realized we weren't being very "anti-Valentine's." More just "alternate-Valentine's."

Happy Belated Valentine's everyone.