Andrea Camassei, Lupercalia. Madrid, Museo del Prado. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not planning to sacrifice a goat today nor, fun though it sounds, run semi-naked through the city flaying bystanders with strips from the hides of recently slaughtered animals. But that’s apparently what the Romans did on Lupercalia, a possible precursor to St. Valentine’s Day. No soppy cards or a dozen overpriced flowers for them!

Valentine’s flowers in Manila, The Phillipines. Zarate123, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Was Lupercalia the origin of Valentine’s Day?

The online English-language Italian newspaper, The Local, tells us that it has long been thought that Valentine’s Day originated in the Roman pagan festival of Lupercalia. It was celebrated on 15 February, during which underclothed young men dashed around the city “hitting bystanders with the flayed hides in a fertility ritual.”

“Women would stand in their way, hoping that getting struck would help them conceive — or if they were already pregnant, that it would help the baby to be born healthy.”

The early Christian church frowned on such inappropriate goings-on, and in the fourth century A.D. Pope Gelasius I tried to ban Lupercalia and declared 14 February “a day of sober celebration in honour of the martyred Saint Valentine.” 

It seems, however, that Gelasius failed to stop the pagan festival and the proximity of the two dates could have (falsely) suggested a link. It is now thought that Geoffrey Chaucer, writing in the 1300s, was the first person to link St. Valentine’s Day with romantic love, in his poem ‘Parliament of Fowls.’

And how do the Italians mark it today?

The Local’s article also investigates the history of St. Valentine, a third-century martyr, and looks at how his day is marked in present-day Italy. You can read more by clicking here.

An irresistible contemporary Valentine’s card. Design by Rebecca Fabbri/USFWS USFWS Pacific Southwest Region, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

A creative holiday at the Watermill

Why not celebrate St. Valentine’s Day by presenting your loved-one with the gift of a creative holiday at the Watermill? What better demonstration of your love than a relaxing and romantic week for the two of you, here in the glorious unspoiled countryside in northern Tuscany?

It’s seven days of inspiring creativity, warm hospitality, delicious food and wine, stunning locations and the convivial company of like-minded people. Come and join us! Just click here.

Painting in the Watermill walled garden.

And from all of us to all of you:

Valentine card, by Gunjan Raj Giri, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.