We miss the good old days. \u00a0Remember when we\u2019d get drunk, slaughter wild animals, butcher them into strips, dip the thongs in blood and run through the streets whipping maidens?<\/p>\n
Oh wait, that wasn\u2019t us. \u00a0That was the Romans.\u00a0 Those knuckleheads knew how to party. \u00a0In honor of the marriage of Zeus and Hera, the Athenians had recognized January 15th<\/sup> to February 15th<\/sup> as the month of fertility, known as Gamelion. \u00a0The Romans took it one step further, and dedicated that last day to Lupercus, who was a half-naked goat-man. \u00a0Honest.\u00a0 On Lupercus\u2019 day, the Roman priests would slaughter goats, walk the streets and touch citizens with the bloody pieces. \u00a0Young women came forward eagerly, hoping to ensure their fertility and an easy childbirth.\u00a0 (Like an early Beatles concert, only bloodier.)\u00a0 At the end of the event, single men and women would draw each other\u2019s names out of an urn, to be pledged to each other for, um\u2026well\u2026you know.<\/p>\n But then the kill-joys showed up. \u00a0Can you guess who?\u00a0 In 313, Emperor Constantine issued the edict of Milan, which was intended to increase religious tolerance for splinter groups like Christians. \u00a0But since Constantine WAS a Christian, the effect was to put the Christians in charge, and they turned around and persecuted their former persecutors. Paganism, Schmaganism!\u00a0 In 496, Pope Gelasius put the kibosh on Lupercus, on the grounds that all this sexual activity was sapping the strength of Rome\u2019s young fighting men. \u00a0As a sort of consolation prize, he gave the people a special feast day on the day before, the 14th<\/sup>. \u00a0In true Christian fashion, the bloody aspects of the pagan ritual were co-opted to honor sacrifice. \u00a0\u201cValentine\u2019s Day\u201d is a testament to at least three different Christian martyrs:\u00a0 a priest from Rome, a bishop from Terni, or a simple pilgrim from Africa. \u00a0No one knows which, but what the heck, the more the better.<\/p>\n But old habits die hard.\u00a0 A couple of millennia later, martyrs or not, old Lupercus still has us all in a tizzy each spring. \u00a0You may not want to slaughter a goat.\u00a0 But go for the chocolates, buy the flowers, send the cards.\u00a0 And if all else fails, throw some names in a hat\u2026<\/p>\n Have a bloody nice Valentine\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We miss the good old days. \u00a0Remember when we\u2019d get drunk, slaughter wild animals, butcher them into strips, dip the thongs in blood and run through the streets whipping maidens? Oh wait, that wasn\u2019t us. \u00a0That was the Romans.\u00a0 Those knuckleheads knew how to party. \u00a0In honor of the marriage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[150,287,428,470,521,766,1052,1287],"class_list":["post-327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4","tag-blood","tag-constantine","tag-fertility","tag-gamelion","tag-greeks","tag-lupercus","tag-romans","tag-valentines-day"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}