Bearing cards, flowers, chocolates and poetry, lovers have always swooned on Valentine’s Day as cherubs circled overhead. Right?
Or is the history darker, marked by Roman bacchanalia, martyrs and lies?
Innumerable legends claim to explain the origins of Valentine’s Day, but as is the case with legends, they leave many questions unanswered. Here are a few:
Where did Valentine’s Day originate?
For years, the consensus among historians was that the holiday had something to do with an ancient Roman festival called Lupercalia that fell in mid-February. Noel Lenski, a Yale University historian, pointed to the seasonal and thematic connections between Lupercalia and modern Valentine’s Day.
Both are erotic festivals, in a sense, but the
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