Wow! February! Lovey dove time for couples to share flowers, chocolates, dinner, special gifts, and of course, intimacy! But let me blow your mind with some facts. Until 450 BC, this was originally the last month of the year and still marks the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New Year. It celebrates Canada’s national flag day, President Lincolns birthday, and initiates African American History Month. But what I found interesting was FEBRUALIA; the Roman Empire’s month-long community festival, an orgy celebrating purification and atonement. Can you imagine that still happening today?

The Roman festival involved drunk young men running through the streets naked, women being smeared in animal blood, and unusual fertility rites.  Men literally hit on women by whipping them with the hides of the animals they had just sacrificed. Women willingly participated believing this would make them fertile. After having their names drawn from a jar, couples would lie together during the festival with hopes to conceive. Thus, the dating phrase of women “being hit on?”

Although much of the marriage and fertility traditions from the old ways persisted, when the Roman Empire became “Christianized,” the festival (renamed Lupercalia), came to eventually honor Valentinus, a priest martyred into sainthood for defying Emperor Claudius II (soldiers were prohibited to marry). It being a way to spare young men from war, Valentinus secretly married couples until imprisoned, tortured, and beheaded. Legend has it that before his end, he befriended, healed, and signed a letter to his jailer’s daughter Julia; “From your Valentine.”

It’s also said that the jailer’s family members and servants came to believe in Jesus and were baptized; that because Valentine wore a purple amethyst ring (hinting he may have been a bishop), it became February’s birthstone; that Julia, the jailer’s daughter, planted a pink-blossomed almond tree near his grave. Today, the almond tree remains a symbol of abiding love and friendship.

Around the 6th century, the church designated February to celebrate the “Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary” (in Jerusalem) and later associated it with the “Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.” But it wasn’t until the 14th and 15th centuries that Valentine’s Day was romanticized.  The Parliament of Fowls (1382) honored the engagement of England’s 15-year-old King Richard II to Anne of Bohemia in a dream vision portraying birds (doves) choosing their mates. It became an annual community celebration when Charles VI of France introduced The Charter of the Court of Love: Lavish festivities where members of the royal court enjoyed amorous song and poetry competitions, jousting and dancing. Amid these festivities, the attending ladies would hear and settle disputes between lovers: Marriage Counseling?

Today, Valentine’s Day is a major, worldwide, source of economic activity. In 2020, Americans alone, generated an estimated revenue of $50 billion. But consider Tina Turner’s song: “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” For many, surviving the remaining 364 days should make Pat Benatar’s song a reality: “Love Is a Battlefield.” So don’t celebrate this day without sharing the many victories you overcame along the way: TOGETHER.

Continue to read all my columns, by visiting: https://2bspoken.blogspot.com/