Valentine’s Day is by far the oldest of our American holidays.
We can trace its history all the way back to the early times of Ancient Rome and the feast of Lupercalia. Celebrated in mid-February, the fertility rites of Lupercalia featured certain priests of the city dashing about the streets carrying strips of goat hide dipped in the sacrificial blood of the goat and a dog, and lightly striking willing female spectators who hoped to bear a child that year. According to legend, many other young women put their names into an urn during that festival, bachelors would pick out the cards, and for a year, the pair would spend time together.
