How Did the Roman Feast of Lupercalia Become St Valentines Day?
During the next few hundred years, Christianity gradually became more and more widespread throughout Europe. As the Church became stronger, it sought to do away with Pagan festivals, and was sometimes conveniently able to combine or replace the original Pagan version with a Christian version of the holiday. Valentine was made a Saint in honour of his defence of the Christian principles of love and marriage, and as Roman who had died in February on the eve of Lupercalia his day of remembrance took the place of the original Pagan fertility festival. And although the ways and means of celebration may have evolved over the centuries, these ancient themes of love and fertility still endure to this day, and as the Romans did, we still declare our love with gifts and cards.
