Every year on February 14, couples from all over the world prove their love through gift exchanges and little touches.
Romantic cards to fill with a romantic message, heart-shaped chocolates, bouquets of red roses…: so many symbols that we all know, and that are sure to resurface every year in our stores and on our screens as we approach this iconic Valentine’s Day.
The origins of this celebration are however more mysterious.
The oldest celebration of Valentine’s day dates back from an annual pagan celebration known as Lupercalia, or the Lupercales. This festival, held on February 15, was intended during ancient Rome to celebrate fertility. The men undressed, sacrificed a sheep or a dog, and covered themselves with the skin of the animal sacrificed in order to increase, they thought, their fertility before meeting young girls.
It was at the end of the 5th century that Pope Gelase I put an end to the famous Lupercales. Shortly afterwards, the Catholic Church made 14 February a feast day to pay homage to the martyr Valentine.
Whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day or not, this holiday stems primarily from our ability to love, an ability that has connected humans for many centuries. Although it no longer consists in making us wear the skins of sacrificed animals as in the time of the Roman Empire, the festival still exists, and everyone likes to please the people who are dear to them.
