What do you get when you mix a third century Roman priest with a Roman goddess? Valentine’s day. Or at least this is one popular take on how it all came about.

Way, way back in history, Feb 14 was an ancient Roman holiday to honor Juno, Queen of Roman gods and goddesses. The day after was a holiday called the Feast of Lupercalia–a pagan fertility celebration.

Tradition has it that on the eve of Lupercalia, young men and women wrote their names on paper and placed them in separate containers. The men would draw a name, and that girl would be his “date” for the festival. It was the implied wish that the couple would fall in love and marry.

So how did a priest end up getting named for this holiday?

Well, Roman Emporer Claudius II was a real bad-ass warmonger and cancelled all marriages and engagements, thinking he’d gain a better army with single men. We’ll never know if that’s true because behind ol’ Claudius’ back, priests Valentine and Marius were secretly marrying Roman couples. :lick:

Claudius found out and went off the deep end. He condemned Valentine, had him beat to death, then loped his head off on… Yup, you guessed it. Valentine died on February 14th.

Later, when early Christian pastors in Rome set out to put a lid on pagen religion, they gradually weaned people away from honoring a pagan god to a martyred priest. But since Valentine was killed for hooking couples up, the old tradition of men choosing women morphed eventually into a billion dollar card and gift industry.

Happy Valentine’s day! :snuggle: