variations on a theme...

the origins of valentine's day and its traditions have been blurred over the centuries so it's hard to glean the actual facts as 'history' has constantly been altered by the prevailing 'powers that be' (and as a consquence 'herstory' has been well and truly buried within the annals of time) ... there are variations on the theme but consensus has its origin as a pagan fertility festival... but in honour of which deity?

"The tradition of Valentine's Day is believed to have originated from the pagan customs of the Third Century or Fourth Century B.C., when the Parentalia and Feralia Festivals of Purification were celebrated in Ancient Rome between February 13 and February 18. This was also the time of a Fertility Festival which celebrated a young man's rite of passage and involved animal sacrifices and fertility rituals. February 13, the opening day of the festivals, was dedicated to peace, love and household goods. February 14, the second day of Parentalia was called the Lupercalia... a day some sources believe was dedicated to Juno-Lupa, the She-Wolf." ... read more here... 

ovid wrote “A she-wolf which had given birth to her whelps came, wondrous to tell, to the abandoned twins. She halted and fawned on the tender babes with her tail, and licked into shape their two bodies with her tongue. The she-wolf (lupa) gave her name to the place, and the place gave the name to the Lupacalia. Great is the nurse for the milk that she gave.” from an essay of Lupacalia

this, from an article lupercalia, she-wolf - "The rite began in the cave of the She-Wolf in the city of Rome where legend had it that the founders of the city, Romulus and Remus, had been suckled by the wolf before they were found by a shepherd. The sacred fig tree grew in front of the cave. Vestals brought to the site of the sacrifice the sacred cakes made from the first ears of the last years grain harvest.

Two naked young men presided over the sacrifice of a dog and a goat. With the bloody knife, their foreheads were smeared with blood, then wiped clean with wool dipped in milk. The young men laughed and girded themselves in the skin of the sacrificed goat. Much feasting followed. Finally, using strips of the goat skin, the young men ran, each leading a group of priests, around the base of the hills of Rome, around the ancient sacred boundary of the old city called the pomarium.

During this run, the women of the city would vie for the opportunity to be scourged by the young men as they ran by, some baring their flesh to get the best results of the fertility blessing (you can see why the Christian church tried so hard to get this ritual banned, but it was so popular that it continued for quite some time under the new regime)"...

according to wikipedia the festival derives from "Lupercus .. a god sometimes identified with the Roman god Faunus, who is the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Pan. Lupercus is the god of shepherds. His festival, celebrated on the anniversary of the founding of his temple on February 15, was called the Lupercalia. His priests wore goatskins. The second-century Christian apologist Justin Martyr mentions an image of "the Lycaean god, whom the Greeks call Pan and the Romans Lupercus,"nude save for the girdle of goatskin, which stood in the Lupercal, the cave where Romulus and Remus were suckled by a she-wolf. There, on the Ides of February, a goat and a dog were sacrificed, and salt mealcakes prepared by the Vestal Virgins were burnt." ... same festival, different deity (female usurped by male!)


and then this allusion to female sexuality and connection to nature in  She-Wolves, Lupercalia, and Prostitutes - "Etymologically, Luperci, Lupercalia, and Lupercal all relate to the Latin for 'wolf' lupus, as do various Latin words connected with brothels. The Latin for she-wolf was slang for prostitute. The legends say that Romulus and Remus were nursed by a she-wolf in the Lupercal. Servius, a 4th century pagan commentator on Vergil, says that it was in the Lupercal that Mars ravished and impregnated the twins' mother."

Juno-Lupa was only one of the many epithets of  Juno - meaning 'vital force' - a juno is also the term given to the protecting guardian spirit of females.

Juno is the roman counterpart to the greek Hera.

"The month of February was sacred to Juno Februata, the Goddess of the 'fever' (febris in Latin) of love in ancient Pagan Rome. She was also the goddess of women and of marriage. feb 14 was her festival day. At that time, a box was provided from which single men could draw a "billet" -- a small piece of paper on which a woman's name was written. The couple would then form a temporary liaison for the erotic games to follow. They would remain partners for the following 12 months. Sometimes marriages resulted from this practice." ... http://www.religioustolerance.org/valentine1.htm

"With the advent of Christianity, priests attempted to replace such ancient heathen practices. In the Fifth Century A.D., the Church resolved to abolish this pagan celebration by creating its own holiday around the same date and selecting a saint who was remembered for his devotion to love. In A.D. 496, Pope Gelasius outlawed the Lupercian Festival, but cleverly retained the Juno Februata lottery. However, in order to lend the festivities Christian meaning and eliminate the pagan overtones, the drawing of saints' names were substituted for the names of unmarried girls. The names were placed into an urn or box and then young people (both male and female) drew a name from the container. During year which followed, the youths and maidens were supposed to emulate the life of the Saint whose name they had drawn. It took some time for this new tradition to garner popularity" ... http://www.novareinna.com/festive/valentine.html

 

it's been fascinating reading, and i do like the 'she-wolf' representation - of course i can't pass up the opportunity of adding another lovely wolf graphic!

before i finish, i have to acknowledge another celebration today - chinese new year - based on the lunisolar calendar - with 2010 being the year of the tiger...

but with as few as 3,200 surviving in the wild it's not looking good for the survival of these magnificent creatures by the next year of the tiger in 2022... read about their plight here 

happy  lunar  new  year,   cheers...