Ever heard of Lupercalia? Me either. Not until this morning when I wondered where and when Valentine’s Day got started. Here’s a bit of what I found.
“The day of romance we call Valentine’s Day is named for a Christian martyr and dates back to the 5th century, but has origins in the Roman holiday Lupercalia.”
… While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial–which probably occurred around A.D. 270–others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.”
For more, click here: History of Valentine’s Day.
Lupercalia and Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Poetry seems forever linked to Feb. 14th. One of my favorite love poems is by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the great love of poet Robert Browning. I have it marked in my old copy of The Premier Book of Major Poets, an anthology edited by Anita Dore.
It’s called “Sonnets from the Portuguese 14: If thou must love me, let it be for nought”
To read it, let’s go to The Poetry Foundation’s website.
This Tuesday, enjoy a very Happy Lupercalia day!
