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Introduction
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History
Pre 1400AD
1400AD-1800AD
1800AD to now
Pre-Christian mythology

Other facts
The Saints
Cards
Valentines around the world

References

Pre-Christian mythology

Greek myths (and their Roman counterparts) can be difficult to nail down because they come in different versions. However, in ancient Athens, the period from mid-January to mid-February was called the month of Gamelion and was dedicated to the marriage between Zeus and Hera – it was a time associated with love and fertility.

When this was converted to Roman mythology the two are Jupiter and Juno, and the festival of Juno Februa was 13th-14th February.

It was also in February, the official start of Spring in Rome, was the Feast of Lupercalia, a much older feast of fertility, originally practiced by shepherds (according to Plutarch) and dedicated to the Earth God Faunus. At this festival the unmarried men would draw out the name of a woman from an urn and she would be his partner for the year.

It was Pope Gelasius I (492-496) who finally abolished the very un-Christian Lupercalia. He also declared in 496 that the feast of St. Valentine would be on February 14.

From this distant perspective, it is entirely possible that the ban on Lupercalia was not very effective and the creation of St Valentine’s Day was an effort to put something similar in its place that was acceptable.