Not sure I agree with this, but this website opines that the origin of Valentine's Day is actually the Roman festival Lupercalia.
I have heard numerous times that Imbolc is in fact derived from Lupercalia (my own coven includes an invocation of Pan and a ritualized mutual scourging the High Priest and the coveners), but not this conection...
(The image is a painting by Jon Foster.)
2 comments :
Even though there may be some connections between ancient celebrations and modern holidays, I give more weight to the printers and card makers in planting Valentine's Day in our calendars. Like many other holidays, it was, and has become even more over the years, a marketing opportunity more than an homage to affection, infatuation, lust, love, or sacred sexuality.
Oh, yes I agree with that...but at the same time, I think there is some level of inspiration and creativity and love of romance that gets kindled for some.
So even if the main driving force of this holiday is commercialism, the impact of all the imagery and art and poetry might just be something that resacralizes love, romance, beauty, etc. I think so, anyway. I like to think it's a way to honor Aphrodite, or Aphrodisian energy.
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