Hey y’all!
I’m Piper Peanut, the official mascot of the Peanuts section in The Chatterbox. I am here to help junior high students in any way possible.With Valentine’s Day behind us, I thought it would be a good idea to tell you about one of my favorite holidays and how it became so popular.
While the holiday contains hints of Catholic and ancient Roman aspects, there are many possible theories of the origin of Valentine’s Day, with the festival of Lupercalia and the legend of St. Valentine being the most possible explanations.
The festival of Lupercalia is an ancient religious festival that took place from Feb. 13 to Feb. 15. During the festival, a goat would besacrificed for fertility and a dog would be sacrificed for purification.
As the people of Rome lined the streets, the men of the festival would go around slapping the women with cut-up strips of the goat.
For the most part, the people of Rome supported this. The belief is that the women would be struck in an attempt to increase their fertility in the upcoming year.
The last part of the festival would include putting all the women’s names in a hat and then the men would choose from the names, often resulting in marriage.
The second primary theory behind Valentine’s Day is the legend of St. Valentine, an old Catholic priest, who was martyred for his actions.
During the rule of Emperor Claudius II, Claudius outlawed all marriage for young men because he believed that single men made better soldiers.
Even though marriage was illegal, St. Valentine continued to perform marriages in secret. He was soon killed for his actions.
The other theory associated with St. Valentine is that he helped people escape terrible Roman prisons where they were often beaten.
While imprisoned, St. Valentine was believed to send the first official “Valentine’s card” to a girl he met, signing the bottom of the card “from your Valentine.”
From there the holiday has grown and adapted into a celebration of love.