Valentine’s Day, we think sweethearts and boxes of chocolates and romantic candle-lit dinners. However, Valentine’s Day wasn’t always sweet.

Think more bloody and paganistic.

Beginning on Feb. 13 to Feb. 15, the Romans would celebrate the feast of Lupercalia, where the men would sacrifice a goat and a dog, then whip women with the hides of the sacrificed animals, running about drunk and naked. Young women would actually lineup for the men to beat them. It was widely believed this would make them fertile.

This violent festival also included a matchmaking lottery, young men would draw the names of women from a jar and then the two would couple up for the duration of festivities. Perhaps even longer if the match worked out.

The Romans may also be responsible for the naming of Valentine’s Day. Emperor Claudius II executed two men who were both named Valentine on Feb. 14 of different years in the 3rd century A.D. They were then honored as martyrs by the Catholic Church with the celebration of St. Valentine’s Day.

Later, a Pope by the name of Gelasius I in the 5th century, combined Lupercalia and St. Valentine’s Day to drum out the pagan holiday. However, Valentine’s Day still remains as a day of fertility and love.

https://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133693152/the-dark-origins-of-valentines-day