The Pagan origins of Valentines Day

As valentines day approaches, I was reflecting on what this day means to me personally, my memories of it over the years and what it means to others.  When I was a young child at Catholic school, I loved and hated valentines day.  Every year, on this date, the 14 February, my teacher would encourage us to create an anonymous valentines card for our person of choice within the class.  The girls would then be taken out of the classroom  and wait patiently while the boys placed their cards on their chosen girl’s desk, and then the girls would do the same for the boys.  Some lucky boys and girls would come into the classroom to find a pile of cards on their desk, with scribbled hearts and poems, signed “luv from ???”.  Other kids would return to face an empty desk, and the humiliation and sadness of an early taste of future valentines days to come.  The pressure,  the expectation, the celebration of the popular and the isolation of the undesired.  I did not feel pretty as a child but blossomed as a teenager, never quite understanding why boys suddenly started taking an interest in me.  Conversely, the cute kids seemed to go the opposite way, getting to a point where the looks that they had relied on to get them everything, faded away.

Valentines day can be beautiful for those in love and incredibly isolating for those or are alone, or in a relationship in which they might as well be.  I remember during my marriage, looking around at the couples in the restaurant and noting the stark contrast between those lit up by each others presence and those who looked like they wished they were anywhere else.

Some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial—which probably occurred around A.D. 270.  Others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat’s hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.

To mark the celebration of Valentines Day, and Lupercalia I am offering a promotion on my love magick rituals for hire.  Whether you are looking for a sweetening spell to encourage feelings of love and positivity towards you from a specific person, an obsession spell to make your desired think only of you or a ritual to draw your soulmate into your life, my rituals can help you to manifest what you desire.  Contact me for specific details of what is available and the discounts that apply this month.

Dark blessings

Scottish Witch

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *