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Historians believe that Valentine's Day originated from an ancient Roman feast called Lupercalia.The Romans worshipped a god called Lupercus, a protective deity who kept wild wolves from overrunning the city. The festival held to honor Lupercus was held on February 15, and was celebrated as a spring festival (the calendar was a bit different in those days). One of the customs associated with Lupercalia was the practice of name- drawing. On Lupercalia Eve the names of young girls were written down on pieces of paper and put in jars, from which each young man would draw. The particular girl each young man drew would be his "girlfriend" for the year. This was the origin of the romantic connotation observed in modern Valentine's Day. Around the 3rd century A.D. (when Christianity was still a new religion in the Roman Empire) there lived a priest named Valentine. Claudius II was the Emperor of Rome at this time, and in the interest of keeping his army strong, he issued an order prohibiting soldiers from getting married. Claudius believed that his soldiers would be more effective as single men, without having families to worry about. Needless to say, this wasn't a terribly popular decision among the military men, particularly those who were already engaged to be married. In defiance of the Emperor, the priest Valentine agreed to secretly marry the soldiers and their beloved. Unfortunately, Rome was a much smaller town in those days, and word traveled fast. When Claudius got wind of what was happening, he ordered Valentine arrested and imprisoned. He was sentenced to death and beheaded. The Lupercalia celebration went on as before for many years following the death of Valentine. As time passed Christianity became more and more firmly established, and at some point the Romans renamed the pagan feast of Lupercalia for Valentine, who by that point had been canonized to become St. Valentine. Valentine greetings continue to be exchanged today by friends and lovers - a tradition that will, no doubt, be around for some centuries yet to come!
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