Every year on February 14, the whole world celebrates the most romantic holiday of the year - Valentine's Day, the second name is Valentine's Day. In Europe, this day is celebrated c XIII century, in the United States - c 1777, in Russia and the CIS since the early 1990s. All known traditions to give this day my favorite gifts to say " I love to provide attention. But where are the origins of this holiday, as associated with a Roman priest, Valentine, and how to celebrate this day in different countries we will now describe in detail.The times of ancient Rome...
The history of Valentine's day originates from Lupercalia ancient Rome. Lupercalia festival of eroticism in honor of the goddess "feverish" love Juno Februata and God Faun, patron of the stud, which was celebrated annually on February 15.
In ancient times the infant mortality was very high, In 276 BC R. H. Rome had almost died out in the "epidemic" of stillbirths and miscarriages. The Oracle informed that in order to increase the birth rate necessary rite of corporal punishment (whipping) women using sacrificial skin. People who for some reason had little children or were not generally seen as cursed and ran to the mystical rituals to gain the ability to bear children.
The place where the she-wolf (according to the legend) suckled Romulus and Remus (founders of Rome) were considered by the Romans to the saints. Every year on 15 February there was held a festival called "Lupercalia" (from lat. lupo the wolf) during which the sacrificed animals. Their skins were whips and after the feast, the young people took the pests from the skin of the sacrificed animals and went into town to flog women. According to the Illustrated history of the Genus, written by William M. Cooper, the main part of the festival of Lupercalia were naked people carrying belts made from goat skin that ran past the women and beat them; women willingly put yourself into thinking that these strikes will give them fertility and easy childbirth. It has become a very common ritual in Rome, which was attended by even members of noble families. Records say that even mark Antony fled as Luperci.
At the end of the celebrations women undressing naked. These festivals have become so popular that even when many other pagan holidays were abolished with the coming of Christianity, this is still a long time existed. Festival of Lupercalia ended in a kind of lottery. Teenage girls wrote in the notes of their names and put these notes into a huge urn, and then every man was pulled from the box these notes. The girl, whose name has pulled the man was his sexual partner for the whole year until the next celebration. Thus people have a holiday associated with free love and sex.
In 494, Pope Gelasius I tried to prevent this pagan holiday. Instead of naming girls urn contained the names of Christian saints. According to the intention of the Pope, and men and women had to pull out of the box notes with names and the year as a whole to imitate the life path of the Saint whose name they drew. In addition, the festival, which came to replace the Lupercalia, was appointed patron - Saint Valentine. At about this same time, a true story, making Valentine's day the patron Saint of lovers.
The time of the Emperor Claudius and Valentine...
About Valentina, who gave the festival its name, little is known. They say that he lived in the third century A.D., the Roman city of Terni. According to one, he was a young Christian priest, other legends raise it to the rank of Bishop. At that time Rome ruled the Emperor Claudius II, who was very respected military prowess of the famous Roman legions. To save the military spirit, the Emperor issued a decree forbidding the legionaries to marry, because marriage is too spends a lot of time in the family and busy thinking not about the good of the Empire and military valor.
Not fearing the Imperial anger, the priest Valentine secretly married couples Legionnaires, involving them in the Christian faith. In addition, he has reconciled quarreling, wrote love letters for tongue-tied and stupid warriors, gave brac flowers pairs.
To keep all this secret was very difficult, and after some time, at the end of the 269 ad, Valentine was arrested and sentenced to the Treasury. Ironically, when Valentine was in prison, he supposedly fell in love with the blind daughter of his executioner and healed her. Other sources say that it was the opposite: the jailer asked Valentine to heal her daughter, and she fell in love with a convicted priest. Before execution, he left her a farewell note and signed, "Your Valentine". From here also there was a tradition of giving cards "Valentine".
Also Pope Gelasius I changed the day of celebration of Lupercalia from the 15th to 14th February (Valentine's Day). After some time of festival, Lupercalia forgotten and disappeared, but between them and Valentine's Day is still a lot in common.
The relics of Saint Valentine, preserved, stored in the Scottish city of Glasgow in the Roman Catholic Church of the blessed John Dance in designated niche. February 14, thousands of people of all ages come here and ask for Valentine's day about love.
January 15, 2003, the mayor and the Bishop of Terni gave the Shrine of the relics of St. Valentine - the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II, as "the gift of brotherly love".
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