Valentine's Day - Lupercalia

Valentine's Day - Lupercalia

Valentines Day

A part of me wants to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day. Another part of me reminds me that today is Lupercalia, the original Roman festival related to Fertility where women asked to be whipped with goat and dog skins to gain fertility, a party that used to end in orgies. Catholics, against this, sought to get married that day. Emperor Claudio II banned Christianity and Valentino of Rome secretly married them. This is why Claudio had him killed. This made Lupercalia Day, for Christians, Valentine's Day. Are you the type that falls in love and gets married till death do you part or the one that wants to be whipped to be fertile in orgies? Or something in between?

• Matias De Stefano