Did you know?

The festival of love used to be celebrated on February 15th

Valentine's Day originates from the ancient Roman fertility festival
of Lupercalia, which was celebrated on 15 February in honour of the
gods Lupercus and Faunus, as well as the legendary founders of Rome,
Romulus and Remus. During the festival, young men would draw the
names of women from a box, and each couple would be paired until next
year's celebration. Often they would fall in love and marry.

At around 270AD Rome was facing battles and civil uprising. The men
were not keen to join the army. Emperor Claudius II believed that the
men did not want to leave their loved ones and summarily cancelled all
marriages and engagements. Two priests, Valentine and Marius, disobeyed
the decree and secretly performed marriage ceremonies. Valentine was
caught on 14 February and dragged to jail. Later in the day he was
clubbed to death and beheaded. It is said that, before his execution,
Valentine himself had fallen in love with the jailer's daughter. He
signed his final note to her, "From your Valentine."

Valentine's Day
In 391AD, Emperor Theodosius I declared Christianity as the official
religion of the Rome. The fertility festival was celebrated until 496AD
when Pope Gelasius replaced it with a similar celebration. For patron
saint of the celebration, he chose the "lovers" saint, St Valentine.
He also moved the date of the celebration from the 15 February to the
date of St Valentine's death, 14 February. Through the centuries,
Valentines Day became to be remembered more as the festival of love
instead of a religious day. In 1969 it was dropped from the Roman
Catholic calendar as a designated feast day.

Cupid
Cupid has always played a role in the celebrations of love. Those
whose hearts are pierced by his arrows fall deeply in love. In Greek
mythology he was known as Eros, the young son of Aphrodite, the
goddess of love and beauty. To the Romans, he was Cupid, son of Venus.
But where there’s love, there often is jealousy. Venus was jealous of
the beauty of Psyche, a mere mortal, and ordered Cupid to punish her
(for being so beautiful). Instead, Cupid fell deeply in love and took
her as his wife.

As a mortal Psyche was forbidden to look at him. Eventually, her
sisters convinced her to look at the handsome Cupid. As punishment,
Venus demanded that she perform three difficult tasks, the last of
which caused Psyche's death. Cupid found her lifeless on the ground
and removed the eternal sleep from her body. The gods, moved by their
love, then granted Psyche immortality.

The symbol of Cupid became part of Valentines Day only recently. Cupid
is still around shooting his arrows. Psyche represents the struggles of
the human soul.