Just the thought of Valentine’s day makes us think of love and lust. As a pagan, I truly embrace both.
     Just how did we as a society get to our modern celebration of the holiday? As with many other holidays, the Roman Catholic church cashed in it’s conversion dollars, banking on the already reveled feast days.
    Legend has it that Valentine was a priest living during the reign of emperor Cladius II. His legacy was one of war and many soldiers were needed. Cladius outlawed marriage for young men, thinking that they would be more apt to enlist in the army if they were not tied down with a family. Valentine continued marrying couples in secrecy until he was caught assisting the young lovers and was put to death on February 14. This just so happens to be the festival of Juno (Hera in Greek) queen of all the gods and goddesses. She also is the goddess of women and marriage.
     Still another story of the church is that Valentine was thrown into prison for assisting Christians to escape from Roman jails. He apparently fell in love with the warden’s daughter and signed his love letters to her “from your Valentine”. Sound familiar?
      Whether you believe either story or any more that are out there, Feb. 14 is and always will be associated with St. Valentine, a martyr.
       Feb. 15 also is the fertility festival of Lupercalia. It honors Faunus, the god of agriculture, and the twins Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she wolf, a lupa. During the celebration, a goat would be sacrificed for fertility and a dog for purification. Young men flogged young women with the strips of hide. The maidens were receptive in hopes that it would make them and their crops more fertile in the next year. Later that day single women’s names were drawn by single young men. They would become sexual partners for the balance of the year. If children resulted from the union, the couple would marry. Around 500 A.D. Pope Gelasius changed the lottery and enforced chastity. Now the names drawn were those of saints whose lives were to become that person’s role model. The Roman pagans continued the tradition in silence, sending a note to their chosen one.
      And now who can forget Cupid? The son of Venus, goddess of love and beauty, is probably the most recognised symbol of  Valentine’s day next to the heart. He was noted for shooting arrows at humans (sometimes gods and goddesses) causing them to fall deeply in love.
     Today red roses and chocolate dominate as the most popular gifts. Chocolate is rich in phenylethylamine, a chemical naturally occurring in the human brain. Scientists believe that boosting levels in women acts as an aphrodisiac. The word aphrodisiac comes from Aphrodite (Venus). Roses and rose petals have long been used in love spells, not to mention that they are really beautiful and smell enticing.
   So go ahead and celebrate the day with someone you love, even if it’s yourself.
  Oh…..and please don’t say, “sweets for the sweet.” Doesn’t anyone remember high school English class? In Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, Queen Gertrude said those words when she placed flowers on Ophelia’s lovely corpse. The young lady had committed suicide.