The Roman Fertility Festival And It's Links To Valentine's Day

Roman Lupercalia Festival

Way back, perhaps 1500 years ago, there was a festival of fertility rites: the Roman Lupercalia Festival. Much feasting, dancing and revelry, for want of a better word, went on.

During the festival the names of virgin girls were put in a box and each boy drew out the name of a girl who would thenn be his, er, Valentine for the next 12 months.

When Rome became a Christian city these sort of goings on were frowned upon. But help was at hand in the form of Pope Gelasius.

In AD 496 he declared St Valentine's Day in memory of Valentinus a priest martyred on that day (February 14th) for refusing to renounce Christianity.

The story is that as Valentinus was about to be executed, because of his Christian beliefs, he wrote a farewell note to his jailer's daughter signed 'From your Valentine.'

So we got our Valentine's Day in place of a Roman Festival that, by coincidence, was also held in February.

The first 'official' valentine was said to have been sent on February 14th, 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife, while a prisoner in the Tower of London after the Battle of Agincourt. The love message was smuggled out to the Duchess and is now held in the British Museum.

Happy Valentine's Day.

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It Seemed As If The Valentine's Card Was From Her Dead Husband

Here's a 'nice' coincidence story.

Genevieve Johnson's husband, George, died when he was only 62. She is now 82 but misses him greatly. He still pops up in her dreams. Just the other night she dreamed they were young again and rearranging furniture for another baby.

But a strange thing happened on February 14th, a coincidence some would say. Genevieve received a valentine card, and when she opened it she read that it was from George Johnson!

Needless to say Genevieve was overcome with mixed emotions. Her daughter said, "It's spooky."

Gradually though the 'miracle' unravelled. The local school teacher had instructed her students to make valentine cards to be distributed to local senior citizens. This they did and the cards were sent out.

The coincidence is that amongst the young boys, who made the cards, there was one called George Johnson and, by the strange hand of fate, this was the card that Genevieve received.

The card was decorated with a heart, a peace sign and the yin-yang symbol. Inside was written: 'Happy Valentine's Day. I hope my Bible verse will impress you: The Lord is with me to the end, Lord, your love endures forever.' Underneath this was the name 'George Johnson'.

Genevieve wrote to George telling him how the card had made her day She said that her Guardian Angel must have been watching over her.

There is one final coincidence to this story. It was arranged for George to visit Genevieve. He noticed her apartment number was 215 - and his class-room number at school is, yes, it's 215!

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Early Valentine Hearts From The Animals

Source: flickr.com via Mike on Pinterest
With the very commercial Valentine's Day fast approaching here are some free heart photos, with love from the animals.

Source: life.com via Mike on Pinterest

Source: veryveryfun.com via Mike on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Mike on Pinterest

Source: funnycatss.com via Mike on Pinterest
And just in case you want to prepare a hotter, spicier Valentine's Day ...

Source: myspaceantics.com via Mike on Pinterest
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