WHY I DON'T WANT TO BE YOUR VALENTINE - Gerhard O Marx - February 1981

Gerhard O Marx

Sexual love has always been the essential ingredient in the observance of St.Valentine's Day. This was true in ancient Rome, during the Middle Ages, and it is true today. Moreover, the mid - February date of this observance has not changed. Only the name of the game has changed, since February 14 is the eve of the Roman festival originally called Lupercalia. The Valentine of Roman days was less refined, however, than its modern celebration. After sacrifice of goats and a dog, the priests, called Luperci, traditionally ran, in two bands, a marked course around the city on this day, scantily dressed only in goatskin girdles and carrying strips of goatskin with which they struck women to take away their infertility. The strips bore the name februa, a word connected with februare, "to purify," hence the day was called Februatus and the month Februarius. - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library