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Slide 1: St. Valentine’s Day: The Real Story February 14th was date to honor two Christian martyrs 300 A.D. (1700 years ago)
Slide 2: St. Valentine’s Day: The Real Story Roman empire established a fertility festival (crops, flocks and children) on February 15th to honor mythological god (Faunus)
Slide 3: St. Valentine’s Day: The Real Story Goats and dogs were sacrificed and animal skins used to whip women (which caused them to be fertile)
Slide 4: St. Valentine’s Day: The Real Story Women would write their name on a love note, drop it into a hat, and then men would draw out a note – each man courted that woman for the night
Slide 5: St. Valentine’s Day: The Real Story Valentines cards come from this tradition
Slide 6: St. Valentine’s Day: The Real Story Christian church ended this fertility festival about 500 years ago – Combined fertility festival with celebration of honoring of martyrs – result was a feast
Slide 7: St. Valentine’s Day: The Real Story Over time the martyr aspect of the feast has been lost, and replaced with a focus on love
Slide 8: St. Valentine’s Day: The Real Story Valentine cards became extremely popular by the 1800s
Slide 9: St. Valentine’s Day: The Real Story Cupid, the Roman god of love (Greek counterpart was Eros), was added to St. Valentine’s Day in the last 500 years