People are always going off on the commercialization of Christmas.  It’s supposed to be about the birth of Jesus, not about spending money on presents and fattening foods. For Christ’s sake, we have lost the meaning of Christmas.  I love that I just used “For Christ sake” when talking about Jesus.

The War on Christmas has gotten plenty of media.

But, if you ask people what they are celebrating on Christmas, at least they know.  They will say something about The Virgin Mary, or Jesus’s birth or at least a bunch of animals in a barn with a baby.

No one, however, has a friggin clue about what the heck we are celebrating on Valentine’s Day or anything about its origins.  Do an experiment.  Ask your friends and family about the origins of Valentine’s Day and what we are celebrating, and I’ll bet they know practically nothing.  At most they know about Saint Valentine, and he came along about 1200 years after the holiday began.

And Valentine’s Day has tons of meaning.  Its origins make it one of our most ancient holidays. In ancient Rome, it was so meaningful and spiritual it took hundreds of years to get the Italians to take out the drunkenness, the nakedness and the orgies

With the cards, candy and flowers we have commercialized Valentine’s Day.  We have lost its true meaning, “honoring a pagan g-d by having sex with a randomly picked woman.”

It is high time we got it back.

Right now I’m starting a War on Valentine’s Day.

After you learn about it, I’m sure you will sign up to be my soldiers, or as I’ll call you, “My Love Warriors.”

First, I need to give you the history.  I had to read about 20 web sites, to figure it out.

February was the last month of the Roman Calendar.  Before starting a new year, the Romans got rid of the bad, evil spirits and purified the city releasing health and fertility to all to start the new year out right..

They did this in honor of the goddess Juno Februata.  She was the goddess of purification and fertility and yes, she is where the name February comes from.

At some point, way long ago, her celebrations, which were named the Februas got subsumed by the Lupercalia, an honoring of Lupercus, the god of shepherds.  But the Lupercalia was really just a continuation of or one of the Februas purification and fertility celebrations.

The Lupercalia festival was from February 13 through February 15 and began with the sacrifice or 2 male goats and a dog.  Then 2 priests would go up to the alter which was located where Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome were believed to have settled.  The blood of the goats would get wiped on their foreheads.

Then the fun would begin.  There was a feast and thongs and whips would be made out of the sacrificed goat skins.  The whips were called Februa because this was all connected to the goddess Juno Februata.

Here is an interesting fact.  The word fever which means heated up, is etymological related to hot, steamy sex because it comes from Juno Februata, the goddess of fertility which also made her the goddess of love and sex.  Since Juno Februata influenced these celebrations they were filled with orgies and sexual excess.

After feasting the men would run drunk and naked through the streets hitting women with the Februa (goat skins).  It was believed that being hit with the Februa made you fertile so women would line up to get hit.

As part of the celebrations, there would be a box filled with the names of women.  A man would pick a name out of the box and that woman would be his partner in the erotic games that were to follow.  They would stay together for a year until the next Lupercalia when he’d pick a new name.  Since the names were picked in a lottery like fashion, the Romans saw their pick as ordained by the gods.

What would you rather have, chocolates and flowers or erotic games?

How did a holiday that much fun, lose its, for lack of a better word fun?

Who took the naked men running through the streets and orgies out of Valentine’s Day?  Why would they do that?

(Check back on February 10, 2015 for the answer.)

Written by Renee Mazer

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