The 15th February was the time when the Romans celebrated their purification festival of Lupercalia, when the priests of the Goat foot God, Pan danced through the streests dressed in wolf skin thongs and whipping the women with goat skins as an act of both purification and fertility.
A popular aspect of this festival was to invite single women to write their names on a piece of paper and place it in a box. The men of the town would then draw a name and subsequently take that woman as a lover for the forthcoming season. This tradition survived into Christian times, at which time the pieces of paper were called 'Valentines' after the Christian Saint and eventually became the valentine card with which we are all familiar today.
Enjoy both days of romance, love, fertility and lust!
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