February 9, 2025 • 35 mins
Listen in as Abby discusses the dark origins of Valentine’s Day, tracing its roots from ancient Roman rituals to the modern celebration of love. We explore how traditions like Lupercalia influenced the holiday and examine the lesser-known stories of St. Valentine and the evolution of Cupid.
Get Lunatics Merch here. Join the discussion on Discord. Check out Abby's book Horror Stories. Available in eBook and paperback. Music by Michaela Papa, Alan Kudan & Jordan Moser. Poster Art by Pilar Keprta @pilar.kep.
Sources
- Time Magazine article by Kat Moon: The Truth About the Connection Between Valentine’s Day and the Ancient Roman Festival of Lupercalia
- NPR article by Arnie Seipel: The Dark Origins of Valentine’s Day
- Time Article by Rachel E. Greenspan: Cherubic Cupid is Everywhere on Valentine’s Day
- Smithsonian Magazine Article by Lisa Bitel The Gory Origins of Valentine's Day
- Historic UK article by Ellen Castelow St Valentines Day
- Good Housekeeping article by Marisa Lascala 15 Best Valentine's Day Horror Movies for People Who Want Their Hearts Racing
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode
of the Lunatics Radio Hourpodcast.
I am Abbey Brinker and today Iam here alone.
But don't panic, I know there'sbeen a few episodes in a row
without Alan, but Alan is verymuch still a part of this
podcast.
He is around, he is doing well.
We're just experimenting thisyear with a few different
(00:39):
episode formats.
So tell us what you think andyou will hear his voice very,
very soon.
So don't worry about that.
So tell us what you think andyou will hear his voice very,
very soon.
So don't worry about that.
But today I'm very excited totalk to you about the dark
history of Valentine's Day,because this is a topic I've
sort of vaguely covered onsocial media in the past.
I've put out videos and donesome very high level research
and it's always been incrediblyfascinating to me and I'm
(01:00):
excited to dig in a little bitdeeper and kind of bring you
guys through the research thatI've uncovered here.
Obviously, it's no surprisethat I'm always really, really
fascinated with the history ofpagan or pre-Christian rituals
and traditions and holidays andhow those have been sort of
re-skinned or evolved to bemodern day hallmark holidays, if
you will.
But there's also another layerspecific to Valentine's Day.
(01:24):
I just find it inherentlyfascinating this juxtaposition
of a holiday that we think of asalmost like nauseatingly sweet,
right, with heart-shaped boxesand Valentine's cards and
elementary school and sugary,sweet candy degree sweet candy
(01:46):
but then also to look at thevery dark and somewhat violent
roots, potentially, of thisholiday.
So I just find that to bereally interesting.
And of course, there's somereally great horror films that
are either centered aroundValentine's Day or sort of have
the same bubblegum energy, youknow, as kind of combining this
lovey-dovey holiday withsomething dark and sinister
which is, in a lot of ways,again right like an homage to
(02:06):
its actual roots.
So we're going to get into allof that today.
I'm going to caveat this entireepisode, probably a few times,
but certainly at the top, justto say there's a lot of debate
around some of this history andso keep that in mind as we talk
through the different historiesand theories around this day.
It's like so many modernholidays, it has quite violent
(02:27):
origins and, again, the mostinteresting piece to me is that
some of these traditions andfestivities that we're going to
talk about today are just starkpolar opposite than how we
celebrate Valentine's Day in2025.
I have such a love for trying totrace back, like, the reason
why we do things today.
You know, like, who decidedthat there should be a holiday
for love?
(02:47):
Was it consumerism, or did itcome about before that?
Did it come about after that?
The same right.
It's kind of similar withChristmas.
It's an interesting journey andI'm excited to take you along
with me.
But before we get into it, asalways, here are the main
sources that I used for thisresearch, and these will also be
linked in the episodedescription if you'd like to
read more for yourself, which Ialways encourage you to do.
(03:09):
A Time Magazine article by CatMoon the Truth About the
Connection Between Valentine'sDay and the Ancient Roman
Festival of Lupercalia.
An NPR article by Arnie Seipelthe Dark Origins of Valentine's
Day.
A Time article by Rachel EGreenspan Cherubic Cupid is
Everywhere on Valentine's Day.
A Smithsonian Magazine articleby Lisa Patel the Gory Origins
(03:32):
of Valentine's Day.
A Historic UK article by EllenCastillo, st Valentine's Day.
A Good Housekeeping article byMarissa La Scala 15 Best
Valentine's Day Horror Moviesfor People who Want their Hearts
Racing.
So again, right at the top ofthe research, I'm going to
disclose that there's actually alot of debate around whether
the pagan fertility ritual thatwe're going to discuss is indeed
(03:54):
a predecessor of Valentine'sDay or if it's merely a
coincidence that both take placein mid-February.
Some historians and scholarsclaim that there is no
connection here at all, but I dostill want to discuss it
because one, I think it's afascinating festival on its own
and we should all know about it.
But two, even if it's not adirect link, I think it's still
(04:14):
possible that things can sort ofindirectly influence each other
.
You know, I think history andcultures ebb and flow and meld
together in different ways, andI just think it's similar enough
that it's worth mentioning andgiving a little bit of a nod to.
So the feast that I'm talkingabout is a feast from ancient
Rome called Lupercalia, which atits core was a fertility and a
(04:35):
purity ritual, and one that isknown for being rather intense
and ominous.
Lupercalia is one of the oldestknown Roman holidays, with
evidence of its celebrationdating back to the 8th century.
The festival was first known asFebrua, meaning purging or
purification, before it foundthe name Lupercalia.
Februus is the god ofpurifications, and he was
(04:58):
worshipped by ancient Italiansand Etruscans.
For the Etruscans, februus wasalso the god of the underworld.
And the Etruscans for those whowas also the god of the
underworld, and the Etruscans,for those who don't know, since
I did not know beforeresearching this were an ancient
civilization from Etruria.
They are believed to haveresided in what is now western
Umbria, tuscany and northernLazio.
The civilization lasted fromabout the 7th century BCE until
(05:23):
the 2nd century BCE.
The Romans also potentiallythought of Februrus as the god
of fever, which again kind ofgoes really well with the theme
of purification and the sweatingout of the toxins.
So we can kind of see thethrough line there.
So this connection rightbetween the god of Februrus, the
month of February andLupercalia is very important, I
think, to understanding the rootof these traditions and
(05:44):
celebrations that occurredduring this time of the year.
And even if we do all leavethis episode feeling like
Lupercalia didn't actually haveanything to do with the origins
of Valentine's Day, which againI'm not entirely sure I believe.
But if that's kind of whatscholars say, I think what we're
still doing here is looking atthe history of the different
festivals and traditions thatwere celebrated around the same
(06:06):
time.
In a calendar year thatValentine's Day is celebrated
right, so that's not nothing.
In addition to the PurificationFestival that happened for the
god Februis, in mid-Februaryanother festival took place.
This was a Roman festival forFaunus and also a festival for
the she-wolf that nursed Romulusand Remus.
I'll explain more about that inone second.
(06:27):
But in honor of Faunus,sacrifices and other
purification rituals took place,again thematically quite
similar, but because thecelebrations for Faunus and
Februa were so close togetherand similar, some believed that
these gods were really the sameentity, meaning that these two
entities became less distinctfrom each other, even though
they were, at one point, twodistinct things Fabrua and
(06:49):
Faunus.
But let's talk a little bitabout Faunus, a god who predated
the more well-known entity, pan.
Faunus is a precursor for Panand if you've seen the Hellier
series, this might beparticularly interesting to you.
He was also known as InnesI-N-N-U-S.
Faunus, or Innes, was one ofthe oldest Roman gods.
He was believed to be the godof fields, plains and the forest
(07:11):
, which makes total sense, ofcourse, because at the time that
he was, you know, truly, reallybelieved in people would live
and die by crops and fields andplains and access to natural
resources.
So I think that it makes sensethat he's thought to be a very
powerful god.
He was also believed to makelivestock and cattle fertile
again, something that would havebeen incredibly important to
(07:32):
the quality of life for peoplewho believed in him as Innes.
Interestingly, he was also thegod of sexual intercourse, maybe
a little bit of a precursor.
There we can thank Livy, orTitus Livius, who was a Roman
historian born in 59 BC, whoconnected this entity to
Lupercalia.
So, from the texts that we haveavailable to us, right,
(07:53):
historian Livy, who his namecomes up, I would say, quite
often in research of this era,lived many, many years before us
, but also many, many yearsafter a lot of the stuff we're
talking about, so kind of abridge in the middle.
But he is the one who connectsthis entity of faunus, or innus,
or precursor to Pan, to thefestival of Lupercalia.
(08:14):
So I'm going to quote from hiswriting.
Quote naked young men would runaround venerating Lycian Pan,
who the Romans then called innus, with antics and lewd behavior.
End quote One of the festivalsin his honor was celebrated on
February 13th on the island ofTiber, while Lupercalia was
mainly celebrated on February15th.
(08:34):
So, again February 13th, we havea festival in the honor of
Faunus right and Innes, who isthe god of sexual intercourse.
And then on February 15th wehave the Festival of Lupercalia,
which we're going to talk abouta little bit more now.
I wanted to go through all ofthat backstory and Roman entity
god stuff because I think it'simportant to understand all of
(08:56):
that a little bit before we talkabout what Lupercalia actually
was, because, again, it's highlydebated.
There are even some connectionsthat historians point to
between Lupercalia and theancient Greek festival of
Arcadian Lycaea, which was awolf festival worshipping the
Greek equivalent of Faunus.
And it's sort of a funny thing,the strange connection here to
(09:18):
these festivals and theworshipping of wolves or
wolf-like creatures.
In some accounts Faunus isdescribed as he who wards off
wolves.
So some of these are festivalsin honor of wolves and right, in
some are festivals in honor ofsomebody who is known to ward
off wolves or keep them away.
And things get even murkierbecause there was a female
(09:39):
goddess called Februata who wasbelieved to rule over this time
of year, right, but we're justgoing to put that aside for now
because there's a lot going onhere already.
The wolf theme isn't totallyrandom because it does tie in
the Roman belief that this datewas connected to Romulus and
Remus.
The short version goes thatRomulus and Remus were twin
brothers said to be founders ofRome.
(10:01):
According to legend, they werethe sons of Mars, the god of war
, and Rhea Silvia, a Vestalvirgin, a priestess in ancient
Rome dedicated to the goddessVesta, the deity of the hearth,
home and family.
Their uncle, fearing they wouldchallenge his rule as king,
ordered them to be killed andthey were abandoned in the Tiber
River.
(10:21):
A she-wolf rescued and nursedthem until a shepherd found and
raised them.
So this she-wolf entityinitially brought them to a cave
called the Looper Call.
See where we're going here.
As adults, the brothers decidedto build a city, but disagreed
on its location.
Romulus wanted the PalatineHill, while Remus preferred the
(10:42):
Aventine Hill.
Their dispute escalated andRomulus killed Remus.
Romulus then founded Rome onApril 21, 753 BCE, naming it
after himself and becoming itsfirst king.
Quoting from the Timecom articleby Cat Moon, quote what is
known about Lupercalia is thatit started with an act of
(11:03):
sacrifice.
Priests of the god Lupercus,called the Luperci, would take
off their clothes and slaughtergoats in the Lupercal, the cave
that Roman legend held to havebelieved the location where the
city founders Romulus and Remuswere nursed by a wolf.
The Luperci would then cut thegoat's skin into strips and run
around the Palatine Hill in Romestriking women with the goat's
(11:30):
skin, end quote.
So I just really wanted tothrow us into what this festival
was.
Cold turkey, right, but let'stalk about it in a little more
detail.
This hitting of women with thegoat's skin wasn't done without
a purpose.
It was believed that it wouldmake the women more fertile and
able to give birth to morechildren.
And there's even more debatehere, right, because some
(11:51):
scholars believe that this actof striking was done
symbolically and was not meantto be overly violent or harmful,
but more of like a gesturetowards right, the inherent
meaning of the act.
In addition to the fertilityaspect, the festival also served
another purpose.
It's believed by somehistorians that this served as
the sexual initiation of youngmen, a transition into adulthood
.
But I can't stress enough thatLupercalia is a bit of an enigma
(12:12):
, right, not only for modernscholars, who debate the purpose
behind these rituals andtraditions, but also for Romans
at the time.
According to the Time articleby Cat Moon, there is evidence
that even modern Romans at thetime were confused by the acts
of the priests during thisfestival.
So, just to reiterate whatwe've covered so far, lupercalia
(12:33):
itself started as, like, a veryspecific cult festival in
ancient Rome where these priestspriests of the god Lupercus,
who are called the Luperci wouldtake off their clothes,
slaughter animals, you know, andhit women with the skins.
And we've talked a lot aboutthe sort of precursor gods that
came before this festival, butlet's talk about Lupercus, right
(12:56):
.
So, again, the Luperci werepriests that were dedicated to
the god Lupercus.
Lupercus was, of course, aRoman god.
He was the protector of farmers, wild animals and harvesting
Again, very, very similar toFaunus and some of the other
gods that we talked about thatare associated with this time of
year.
He was primarily worshipped, asyou can imagine, by shepherds,
(13:18):
because he was thought of assomeone who would protect these
flocks of animals and alsoencourage fertility in these
flocks of animals.
And the Lupercal, which again,is that cave where the she-wolf
took Romulus and Remus to nursethem back to health.
This was thought of as hissanctuary, and it is also why
Lupercalia was a celebrationthat helped pregnant women.
But you can also see, to somedegree, right, the leap that was
(13:42):
made from.
Okay, there's this traditionaround this time of year of
worshiping this God who protectsshepherds, who encourages
fertility and animals, becausethat's something that's
important to people at this timeand you want to translate that
fertility and animals to people,right?
So we're going to skin theseanimals in like the sacrificial
(14:02):
way and use those skins and thatessence to hit these women, and
that's you know, again, sort ofvery roughly how we ended up
there.
Also, really similar to Faunus,right?
Lupercus is also sometimeslooped in with the god Pan in
Greek mythology, another reallycool kind of through line
between these different thingswe're talking about.
In addition to the fertilityaspect, the festival also served
(14:30):
another purpose.
It's believed by somehistorians that this served as
the sexual initiation of youngmen, a transition into adulthood
.
So if you Google the history ofValentine's Day right now, a
lot of the articles willgenerally point you towards
Lupercalia because, again, it isa festival that was celebrated
around February 15.
Here we are, february 14, rightmid February, celebrating
Valentine's Day, and oh, oh,look, this festival has a lot to
(14:52):
do with fertility and andinitiations into being an adult,
sexually, right.
Okay, I can understand why wewould think that, but there's
also this really interestingaspect of Lupercalia which I
think sort of seals its fate,whether or not it's totally true
that it is the precursor ofValentine's Day, and that is the
fact that some say Lupercaliaincluded a matchmaking ritual
(15:15):
where men would pull the namesof women out of a jar or an urn
and remain coupled up with thatperson for the duration of the
celebration, and maybe evenlonger if there was actually a
match there.
This information comes from theNPR article by Arnie Seipel, but
again, there's conflictingbeliefs on this one.
Some scholars even reject thatthis matchmaking ritual existed
(15:37):
entirely.
But regardless of this piece,it's certainly a festival filled
with drunken debauchery, asmost Roman festivals seem to
have been, if sources are to bebelieved.
It's also interesting to notethat the festival seemed to calm
down a bit as time went on.
So while perhaps at its peak itwas this naked, drunken,
violent you know extravaganza,for lack of a better word Over
(16:01):
time it became a little bit moresubtle.
The people would tend to wearclothes instead of stripping
naked, and women were hit ontheir hands instead of anywhere
on their bodies.
I'm not saying that that'sentirely better, I'm just saying
that that seems to be kind of abit of an evolution, with the
festival Jumping ahead to the5th century, pope Galatius
(16:22):
officially declared February14th to be Valentine's Day.
So how did we get there?
Some believe this was part of aplan to convert this pagan
tradition again the tradition ofLupercalia to a more
quote-unquote, civilizedChristian version, something we
see with many major paganholidays from antiquity.
But there are a few differentand fun reasons why the name
(16:44):
Valentine may have gottendragged into this whole thing.
So I want to talk to you alittle bit about some of the
urban legend and folklore ofwhat kind of happened, but we'll
know that there's a bit of aplot twist at the end.
Perhaps the most romantic ofthese stories dates back to the
3rd century AD, when EmperorClaudius II was so frustrated
(17:05):
that his soldiers missed theirspouses and children so much
while they were away at war thathe banned marriage.
And so, again you know,claudius had all of these men
and boys out fighting and theywere pining over their lost
loved ones and their wives andtheir children.
And he grew so frustrated withthis, which he saw as a weakness
, and he decided to ban marriageas an easy fix right.
(17:27):
He thought all relationshipswere distractions from his army
and from war and fighting andprotecting your home.
But a priest named FatherValentine refused to honor his
ban and continued to performclandestine wedding ceremonies.
Forever a romantic, I would say.
And so the story continues thatEmperor Claudius II figured out
(17:47):
what Father Valentine was up toand had him arrested.
While the priest awaited hisexecution date, legend has it
that the couples that he wedwould visit him in prison and
pass him flowers and trinketsthrough the bars of his cell.
But things get even mushier.
Father Valentine was scheduledto be put to death on February
14th, but it turned out that hehad fallen in love with the
(18:09):
daughter of his captor.
Of course, some even claim thathe was able to restore the
sight of his jailer's blinddaughter.
So some say that he really wasquite talented.
So of course, he left her aletter before he was killed,
which he signed from yourValentine.
You can see the through linehere to our modern day tradition
of giving out Valentine's cardsto classmates and crushes, but
(18:31):
of course also this idea ofclaiming someone as your
Valentine.
Right, will you be my Valentine.
And all of this is well andgood.
But sadly for Father Valentine,he was eventually beheaded in
Rome.
It's estimated that he diedsometime during 270 AD, and
though some legends connect thedate of his execution to
February 14th.
(18:52):
It's more likely thatValentine's Day falls on
February 14th because ofLupercalia, and, not to exclude
anyone, there are actually othersaints to consider here.
So I'm going to quote here fromthe Smithsoniancom article by
Lisa Battelle the Gory Originsof Valentine's Day, quote
ancient sources reveal thatthere were several St Valentines
(19:12):
who died on February 14th.
Two of them were executedduring the reign of Roman
Emperor Claudius Gothicus in 269to 270 AD, at a time when
prosecution of Christians wascommon.
How do we know this?
Because an order of Belgianmonks spent three centuries
collecting evidence for thelives of saints from manuscript
(19:32):
archives around the world.
Jumping ahead in the article alittle bit here, but continuing
the quote, quote the earliestValentinus is said to have died
in Africa along with 24 soldiers.
Unfortunately, even theBalandists, who are the monks
collecting this data, could notfind any more information about
him.
As the monks knew.
Sometimes all that the saintsleft behind was a name and a day
(19:54):
of death, end quote.
So I think that gives us alittle more understanding about
why things are so murky and whythere are so many different
versions of these kind ofromantic events, that that
happen surrounding and leadingup to Valentine's Day.
Even these monks who arecompiling this information
hundreds of years ago sort ofunderstand the shortcomings of
the of the data that they weregiven, and they say that it's
(20:17):
likely that it's not actuallythese three different saints
named Valentine who areseparately executed in all of
these different lingeringstories.
It's likely that thisinformation was written down
different ways, with differentinformation, but it was all
based on one source event, right?
And so that's the thing that wedon't have a ton of information
about, beyond what these monkshave collected.
And so all of the legend that Ijust talked you through, right,
(20:40):
the imprisoned priest beingable to heal the blind, or
performing these secretChristian marriage rituals or
passing notes between you know,different Christian lovers All
of this is thought to be a bitmore romantic than what happened
in actuality and a bit of urbanlegend, but I like to include
it because I think that it isquite fun, right, and it's a
good story, and if you've everbeen to a very old historic
(21:04):
church or monastery acrossEurope, you know a lot of them
have what they claim to berelics of saints, and there are
quite a few that claim to haverelics of St Valentine.
Because, again, it's just sucha sprawling history that has not
been very well documented orcontained, and so the
imagination has been left to runwild.
And I want to share a funtidbit from that article, called
(21:25):
St Valentine's Day, by EllenCastillo, and this is on
historic-ukcom Quote.
The first real association of StValentine's Day with romantic
love or lovebirds derives fromGeoffrey Chaucer's Parliament of
Fowls, dating from 1382.
Chaucer celebrated theengagement of the 15-year-old
King Richard II to Anne ofBohemia via a poem in which he
(21:48):
wrote True to form, though itwas a Frenchman who is recorded
as sending the earliestsurviving Valentine's note to
his sweetheart Charles.
The Duke of Orleans was writingto her from his prison cell in
the Tower of London followinghis capture at the Battle of
Agincourt in 1415.
(22:10):
In the poem, the Duke talks ofhis love for his wife and refers
to her as my very sweetValentine.
So again, obviously this is avery similar piece of history,
right?
And I would say that theversion I shared moments ago
about the priest is probably abit more folklore.
Well, this has more historicproof behind it.
Ellen Castillo, in her article,also points out that by 1601,
(22:32):
this holiday appears to be apretty established part of
English tradition right and kindof makes an appearance in
William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Okay, jumping ahead to moderntimes, let's take a moment to
shed some light on the infamousicon of Valentine's Day, cupid.
You're probably alreadyfamiliar with Cupid, a cherub
(22:53):
god of love and attraction.
The ancient Greek version isEros.
Cupid has been adorningcartoons and greeting cards for
decades, and Cupid'sheart-tipped arrow has become a
symbol of Valentine's Day.
But who decided that a baby ina diaper should be the symbol of
the most romantic day in thecalendar?
(23:14):
A question that we deserve ananswer to.
It seems like folks have sort oftried to rationalize this
decision away by assigningmeaning to his quality.
So, for example, this decisionaway by assigning meaning to his
quality.
So, for example, it's said thathe carries an arrow and torch
because of the often harmful andinflammatory side effects of
love and passion.
His wings represent thefickleness of lovers.
Cupid's arrows have two typesof powers His golden tip arrows
(23:37):
can inject and instigate love,while his dull lead arrows can
cause a lover to retreat.
But because it's so interesting,let's talk a little bit about
the history of Cupid.
So, like I said, cupid startedout as the Greek god Eros and
was later re-skinned by theRomans into Cupid.
Eros is the Greek word fordesire.
Eros' parents were Aphroditeand Ares or, on the Roman side,
(24:00):
venus and Mars.
Either way, his parents are thegods of love and war, blending
into a fiery, passionate sun.
Quoting from the Time articleby Rachel E Greenspan.
Quote the original Cupid wasmore of a heartthrob than a
cherub.
Traced back to 700 BC, thischaracter of legend was called
Eros, the Greek word for desire.
In the archaic period, eros,the son of Aphrodite, the
(24:23):
goddess of love, would play withthe hearts of mortals and gods.
So this was seen right assomewhat of a sinister, ominous
quality, as a punishment.
Quoting from Hippodiles, a 5thcentury BCE play by Euripides,
(24:53):
quote I pray that love may nevercome to me with murderous
intent, in rhythms measurelessand wild.
End.
Quote.
And in this case the word lovetranslates to Eros or Cupid.
So again, this real fear thatthis god of love would come to
you and match you with somebodyas a punishment right, instead
of matching you with somebody asa wonderful thing.
But around the fourth centuryBCE there was a shift in popular
perception of Eros.
(25:14):
Before this point in history,he was described as incredibly
powerful, a being to fear,despite his associations with
love, and while perhaps hisreputation can be traced back to
the power of his father, it'sactually the power of his mother
that softens his image.
It came to be a common beliefthat Eros answered to his mother
, the goddess of love, and ifthat's true, then there was
(25:36):
nothing to fear.
This shift in perceptionsoftened his image quite
significantly.
Another way to limit his powerand strength is, of course, to
depict him as a child.
So if he truly is an entitythat people live in fear of,
then of course it makes sense totry to figure out some way to
make him seem less threatening.
And by the time he wasRomanified, if you will, he was
(25:57):
already seen as a cherub.
Cupid's popularity surged againwith the Renaissance painters,
who seemed to be particularlytaken with him, always painting
him as a child.
Quoting one more time fromGreenspan's Time article, this
time on the more modern historyof Valentine's Day, quote the
industry really hit its stridein the 1850s after Congress
(26:18):
voted to decrease postage ratesin an effort to circumvent the
privatization of the postalservice.
This postal reform made itpossible for everyday Americans
to send and receive mail, whilethe Industrial Revolution
brought the advent of printingpress technology.
So when Hallmark beganmanufacturing Valentine's Day
cards in 1916, this massproduction meant sending
(26:41):
postcards was much cheaper andeasier.
As Valentine's Day became moreconvenient, cupid imagery only
continued to grow, end quote.
And just a side note that Ididn't know and I thought it's
interesting Hallmark actuallystarted as a postcard company in
1910.
There is so much more to each ofthese myths and legends and
it's very, very complicated, andthere's, I kind of think of it
(27:04):
as three different pillars.
Right, there's the first pillar, which is Lupercalia, which
again is highly, highly debated.
A lot of people think there'sjust absolutely nothing there
besides this kind of tangentialthematic alignment, that it
really has nothing to do withthe history of Valentine's Day
as we know today.
Okay, but I still maintain thatthere is a history and a
(27:24):
precedent across thousands ofyears to have celebrations
mid-February, right?
So even if it's just thechoosing of a date, I think that
that's important.
Then we have the second pillar,which is really what we don't
know about St Valentine, right?
And how many St Valentines werethere actually?
And are any of these differentstories true to St Valentine?
(27:45):
Or was it actually thisFrenchman right in the 1800s?
And so there is a lot of ebband flow here, but we do know St
Valentine was a person and theywere executed.
But there's so much to fill inhere and obviously urban legend
has done the trick.
And then the third pillar, Ithink, is really modern day,
valentine's traditions, right,and Cupid really brings us into
(28:07):
modern times.
And then, of course, thecommercialization comes through,
with the things that we dotoday, sending chocolates and
flowers and roses and cards toeach other.
You know, I think that'ssomething that has a through
line, you know, and growing upin the 90s, bringing your little
Valentine's Day sheets topeople was super fun and I
enjoyed doing that.
You'd punch out the littlecards and fill them in and send
(28:28):
a carnation to your friends,which was maybe highly toxic,
but you know what I look back infond memory.
Okay.
So of course, we have to talkabout horror films that play
with Valentine's Day and, unlikesome topics on this podcast,
which really tried to trace backa horror trope to its historic
roots, this is a little bitdifferent, but there are still
(28:50):
some really fun Valentine's Dayhorror films, so let's talk
about them.
The first is the Love Witchfrom 2016, which was directed by
Anna Billier and it starsSamantha Robinson.
It tells the story of a witchwho uses ritual spells to incite
love.
I mean, the best part of thismovie to me is this beautiful
pulp novel aesthetic and whileit's not a thousand percent a
(29:14):
film about Valentine's Day, it'sgot that icky sort of sticky,
lovey-dovey mushiness, but likein a horrifying way.
I 10 out of 10.
I cannot talk about the LoveWitch enough.
That is a whole topic on itself.
Raising Cain from 1992 by BrianDe Palma is also a really good
(29:35):
Valentine's Day film and ittakes place on Valentine's Day,
so it's much more related, andit stars John Lith Lithgow.
10 out of 10.
Couldn't recommend more.
My Bloody Valentine from 1981.
And then there's a 2009 remakeas well.
This film is usually at the topof the list for Valentine's Day
horror movies.
It tells the story of a localurban legend in the form of a
(29:57):
killer that comes to be onValentine's Day and for
something a little bit differentPicnic at Hanging Rock from
1975.
It's based on an Australianhistorical fiction novel by Joan
Lindsay.
It's famous for its very softand dreamy visuals and it tells
the story of a group of girlsfrom the Victorian era who are
taken on a picnic by theheadmistress of their private
(30:19):
school Until, of course,something horrible happens.
Valentine from 2001,.
Right, an early 2000s slashermovie which we always love, and
this one stars Denise Richardsand Katherine Heigl.
It was directed by Jamie Blanksand it tells the story of four
young women looking for love onValentine's Day and also shout
out to our friend Kate Rotunda.
Kate is really I like to callher our horror encyclopedia
(30:42):
friend.
She knows every horror movieand is such a great resource and
helps us with some of theresearch for different lists and
things that we put out and andit's just all in an amazing
person.
But she also added to her listthis year which will be coming
out on social media, lisaFrankenstein and Death Becomes
Her.
I would say it's interesting.
Usually Kate and I have totallydifferent lists for these
(31:04):
topics, but Valentine's Day waspretty close and I would also
sign off on Lisa Frankensteinand Death Becomes Her and
Jennifer's Body.
Actually she added that as well.
I feel like I think aboutValentine's Day horror movies in
the same way I think aboutHalloween horror movies, in that
obviously, jennifer's Body isnot really a Valentine's Day
horror movie.
However, it's very fun and it'slove themed and that alone kind
(31:29):
of makes it right for theholiday.
Lisa Frankenstein I actuallysaw in theaters on February 13th
last year, so to me it willalways be associated with
Valentine's Day.
Every year, thousands of peoplesend letters to arrive on
Valentine's Day to Verona, italy.
All of these letters areaddressed to Juliet, the leading
character in Shakespeare'sinfamous play Romeo and Juliet.
(31:50):
These letters don't remainunopened.
Quite the opposite, they areopened and responded to by
volunteer members of the JulietClub.
Each year the club awards thetitle of Cara Giulietta, dear
Juliet, to the letter they findto be the most touching and
moving.
We all know that this year andthe next few will undoubtedly be
scary and difficult.
(32:11):
I think for a lot of us rightnow things already feel scary
and there are certainly biggerfish to fry than the history of
Valentine's Day.
But I wanted to leave us withthis cute little story about
Verona, italy, and the lettersto Juliet, because one art
really can endure and two artreally can make a difference,
and finding little moments tocelebrate love in all of its
(32:33):
forms and shapes is a verypowerful act.
So for anyone who doescelebrate Valentine's Day, happy
Valentine's Day to you and foranyone who doesn't.
Thank you for listening, becauseI think at the root of all of
it is that things are not whatthey seem.
Traditions are never what theyseem.
The reason why we celebratethings today is never the reason
why something started to becelebrated thousands of years
(32:54):
ago.
And I think all of that justspeaks to the need for humanity
to adapt and change as time goeson.
And I'm not saying that weshouldn't celebrate Valentine's
Day, but I am saying that weshould be open-minded and shift
our thinking and haveconversations with those around
us and make sure that we areadapting as things change and as
we learn more about the worldand what people need.
(33:15):
Thank you guys for listening.
I hope this solo episode wasn'ttotally boring without Alan's
interjections every few minutesthroughout.
Don't worry, he will be backsoon.
I hope all of you are stayingsafe, staying well.
We will talk to you soon.
Bye.
Thanks for watching.
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode
of the Lunatics Radio Hourpodcast.
I am Abbey Brinker and today Iam here alone.
But don't panic, I know there'sbeen a few episodes in a row
without Alan, but Alan is verymuch still a part of this
podcast.
He is around, he is doing well.
We're just experimenting thisyear with a few different
(00:39):
episode formats.
So tell us what you think andyou will hear his voice very,
very soon.
So don't worry about that.
So tell us what you think andyou will hear his voice very,
very soon.
So don't worry about that.
But today I'm very excited totalk to you about the dark
history of Valentine's Day,because this is a topic I've
sort of vaguely covered onsocial media in the past.
I've put out videos and donesome very high level research
and it's always been incrediblyfascinating to me and I'm
(01:00):
excited to dig in a little bitdeeper and kind of bring you
guys through the research thatI've uncovered here.
Obviously, it's no surprisethat I'm always really, really
fascinated with the history ofpagan or pre-Christian rituals
and traditions and holidays andhow those have been sort of
re-skinned or evolved to bemodern day hallmark holidays, if
you will.
But there's also another layerspecific to Valentine's Day.
(01:24):
I just find it inherentlyfascinating this juxtaposition
of a holiday that we think of asalmost like nauseatingly sweet,
right, with heart-shaped boxesand Valentine's cards and
elementary school and sugary,sweet candy degree sweet candy
(01:46):
but then also to look at thevery dark and somewhat violent
roots, potentially, of thisholiday.
So I just find that to bereally interesting.
And of course, there's somereally great horror films that
are either centered aroundValentine's Day or sort of have
the same bubblegum energy, youknow, as kind of combining this
lovey-dovey holiday withsomething dark and sinister
which is, in a lot of ways,again right like an homage to
(02:06):
its actual roots.
So we're going to get into allof that today.
I'm going to caveat this entireepisode, probably a few times,
but certainly at the top, justto say there's a lot of debate
around some of this history andso keep that in mind as we talk
through the different historiesand theories around this day.
It's like so many modernholidays, it has quite violent
(02:27):
origins and, again, the mostinteresting piece to me is that
some of these traditions andfestivities that we're going to
talk about today are just starkpolar opposite than how we
celebrate Valentine's Day in2025.
I have such a love for trying totrace back, like, the reason
why we do things today.
You know, like, who decidedthat there should be a holiday
for love?
(02:47):
Was it consumerism, or did itcome about before that?
Did it come about after that?
The same right.
It's kind of similar withChristmas.
It's an interesting journey andI'm excited to take you along
with me.
But before we get into it, asalways, here are the main
sources that I used for thisresearch, and these will also be
linked in the episodedescription if you'd like to
read more for yourself, which Ialways encourage you to do.
(03:09):
A Time Magazine article by CatMoon the Truth About the
Connection Between Valentine'sDay and the Ancient Roman
Festival of Lupercalia.
An NPR article by Arnie Seipelthe Dark Origins of Valentine's
Day.
A Time article by Rachel EGreenspan Cherubic Cupid is
Everywhere on Valentine's Day.
A Smithsonian Magazine articleby Lisa Patel the Gory Origins
(03:32):
of Valentine's Day.
A Historic UK article by EllenCastillo, st Valentine's Day.
A Good Housekeeping article byMarissa La Scala 15 Best
Valentine's Day Horror Moviesfor People who Want their Hearts
Racing.
So again, right at the top ofthe research, I'm going to
disclose that there's actually alot of debate around whether
the pagan fertility ritual thatwe're going to discuss is indeed
(03:54):
a predecessor of Valentine'sDay or if it's merely a
coincidence that both take placein mid-February.
Some historians and scholarsclaim that there is no
connection here at all, but I dostill want to discuss it
because one, I think it's afascinating festival on its own
and we should all know about it.
But two, even if it's not adirect link, I think it's still
(04:14):
possible that things can sort ofindirectly influence each other
.
You know, I think history andcultures ebb and flow and meld
together in different ways, andI just think it's similar enough
that it's worth mentioning andgiving a little bit of a nod to.
So the feast that I'm talkingabout is a feast from ancient
Rome called Lupercalia, which atits core was a fertility and a
(04:35):
purity ritual, and one that isknown for being rather intense
and ominous.
Lupercalia is one of the oldestknown Roman holidays, with
evidence of its celebrationdating back to the 8th century.
The festival was first known asFebrua, meaning purging or
purification, before it foundthe name Lupercalia.
Februus is the god ofpurifications, and he was
(04:58):
worshipped by ancient Italiansand Etruscans.
For the Etruscans, februus wasalso the god of the underworld.
And the Etruscans for those whowas also the god of the
underworld, and the Etruscans,for those who don't know, since
I did not know beforeresearching this were an ancient
civilization from Etruria.
They are believed to haveresided in what is now western
Umbria, tuscany and northernLazio.
The civilization lasted fromabout the 7th century BCE until
(05:23):
the 2nd century BCE.
The Romans also potentiallythought of Februrus as the god
of fever, which again kind ofgoes really well with the theme
of purification and the sweatingout of the toxins.
So we can kind of see thethrough line there.
So this connection rightbetween the god of Februrus, the
month of February andLupercalia is very important, I
think, to understanding the rootof these traditions and
(05:44):
celebrations that occurredduring this time of the year.
And even if we do all leavethis episode feeling like
Lupercalia didn't actually haveanything to do with the origins
of Valentine's Day, which againI'm not entirely sure I believe.
But if that's kind of whatscholars say, I think what we're
still doing here is looking atthe history of the different
festivals and traditions thatwere celebrated around the same
(06:06):
time.
In a calendar year thatValentine's Day is celebrated
right, so that's not nothing.
In addition to the PurificationFestival that happened for the
god Februis, in mid-Februaryanother festival took place.
This was a Roman festival forFaunus and also a festival for
the she-wolf that nursed Romulusand Remus.
I'll explain more about that inone second.
(06:27):
But in honor of Faunus,sacrifices and other
purification rituals took place,again thematically quite
similar, but because thecelebrations for Faunus and
Februa were so close togetherand similar, some believed that
these gods were really the sameentity, meaning that these two
entities became less distinctfrom each other, even though
they were, at one point, twodistinct things Fabrua and
(06:49):
Faunus.
But let's talk a little bitabout Faunus, a god who predated
the more well-known entity, pan.
Faunus is a precursor for Panand if you've seen the Hellier
series, this might beparticularly interesting to you.
He was also known as InnesI-N-N-U-S.
Faunus, or Innes, was one ofthe oldest Roman gods.
He was believed to be the godof fields, plains and the forest
(07:11):
, which makes total sense, ofcourse, because at the time that
he was, you know, truly, reallybelieved in people would live
and die by crops and fields andplains and access to natural
resources.
So I think that it makes sensethat he's thought to be a very
powerful god.
He was also believed to makelivestock and cattle fertile
again, something that would havebeen incredibly important to
(07:32):
the quality of life for peoplewho believed in him as Innes.
Interestingly, he was also thegod of sexual intercourse, maybe
a little bit of a precursor.
There we can thank Livy, orTitus Livius, who was a Roman
historian born in 59 BC, whoconnected this entity to
Lupercalia.
So, from the texts that we haveavailable to us, right,
(07:53):
historian Livy, who his namecomes up, I would say, quite
often in research of this era,lived many, many years before us
, but also many, many yearsafter a lot of the stuff we're
talking about, so kind of abridge in the middle.
But he is the one who connectsthis entity of faunus, or innus,
or precursor to Pan, to thefestival of Lupercalia.
(08:14):
So I'm going to quote from hiswriting.
Quote naked young men would runaround venerating Lycian Pan,
who the Romans then called innus, with antics and lewd behavior.
End quote One of the festivalsin his honor was celebrated on
February 13th on the island ofTiber, while Lupercalia was
mainly celebrated on February15th.
(08:34):
So, again February 13th, we havea festival in the honor of
Faunus right and Innes, who isthe god of sexual intercourse.
And then on February 15th wehave the Festival of Lupercalia,
which we're going to talk abouta little bit more now.
I wanted to go through all ofthat backstory and Roman entity
god stuff because I think it'simportant to understand all of
(08:56):
that a little bit before we talkabout what Lupercalia actually
was, because, again, it's highlydebated.
There are even some connectionsthat historians point to
between Lupercalia and theancient Greek festival of
Arcadian Lycaea, which was awolf festival worshipping the
Greek equivalent of Faunus.
And it's sort of a funny thing,the strange connection here to
(09:18):
these festivals and theworshipping of wolves or
wolf-like creatures.
In some accounts Faunus isdescribed as he who wards off
wolves.
So some of these are festivalsin honor of wolves and right, in
some are festivals in honor ofsomebody who is known to ward
off wolves or keep them away.
And things get even murkierbecause there was a female
(09:39):
goddess called Februata who wasbelieved to rule over this time
of year, right, but we're justgoing to put that aside for now
because there's a lot going onhere already.
The wolf theme isn't totallyrandom because it does tie in
the Roman belief that this datewas connected to Romulus and
Remus.
The short version goes thatRomulus and Remus were twin
brothers said to be founders ofRome.
(10:01):
According to legend, they werethe sons of Mars, the god of war
, and Rhea Silvia, a Vestalvirgin, a priestess in ancient
Rome dedicated to the goddessVesta, the deity of the hearth,
home and family.
Their uncle, fearing they wouldchallenge his rule as king,
ordered them to be killed andthey were abandoned in the Tiber
River.
(10:21):
A she-wolf rescued and nursedthem until a shepherd found and
raised them.
So this she-wolf entityinitially brought them to a cave
called the Looper Call.
See where we're going here.
As adults, the brothers decidedto build a city, but disagreed
on its location.
Romulus wanted the PalatineHill, while Remus preferred the
(10:42):
Aventine Hill.
Their dispute escalated andRomulus killed Remus.
Romulus then founded Rome onApril 21, 753 BCE, naming it
after himself and becoming itsfirst king.
Quoting from the Timecom articleby Cat Moon, quote what is
known about Lupercalia is thatit started with an act of
(11:03):
sacrifice.
Priests of the god Lupercus,called the Luperci, would take
off their clothes and slaughtergoats in the Lupercal, the cave
that Roman legend held to havebelieved the location where the
city founders Romulus and Remuswere nursed by a wolf.
The Luperci would then cut thegoat's skin into strips and run
around the Palatine Hill in Romestriking women with the goat's
(11:30):
skin, end quote.
So I just really wanted tothrow us into what this festival
was.
Cold turkey, right, but let'stalk about it in a little more
detail.
This hitting of women with thegoat's skin wasn't done without
a purpose.
It was believed that it wouldmake the women more fertile and
able to give birth to morechildren.
And there's even more debatehere, right, because some
(11:51):
scholars believe that this actof striking was done
symbolically and was not meantto be overly violent or harmful,
but more of like a gesturetowards right, the inherent
meaning of the act.
In addition to the fertilityaspect, the festival also served
another purpose.
It's believed by somehistorians that this served as
the sexual initiation of youngmen, a transition into adulthood
.
But I can't stress enough thatLupercalia is a bit of an enigma
(12:12):
, right, not only for modernscholars, who debate the purpose
behind these rituals andtraditions, but also for Romans
at the time.
According to the Time articleby Cat Moon, there is evidence
that even modern Romans at thetime were confused by the acts
of the priests during thisfestival.
So, just to reiterate whatwe've covered so far, lupercalia
(12:33):
itself started as, like, a veryspecific cult festival in
ancient Rome where these priestspriests of the god Lupercus,
who are called the Luperci wouldtake off their clothes,
slaughter animals, you know, andhit women with the skins.
And we've talked a lot aboutthe sort of precursor gods that
came before this festival, butlet's talk about Lupercus, right
(12:56):
.
So, again, the Luperci werepriests that were dedicated to
the god Lupercus.
Lupercus was, of course, aRoman god.
He was the protector of farmers, wild animals and harvesting
Again, very, very similar toFaunus and some of the other
gods that we talked about thatare associated with this time of
year.
He was primarily worshipped, asyou can imagine, by shepherds,
(13:18):
because he was thought of assomeone who would protect these
flocks of animals and alsoencourage fertility in these
flocks of animals.
And the Lupercal, which again,is that cave where the she-wolf
took Romulus and Remus to nursethem back to health.
This was thought of as hissanctuary, and it is also why
Lupercalia was a celebrationthat helped pregnant women.
But you can also see, to somedegree, right, the leap that was
(13:42):
made from.
Okay, there's this traditionaround this time of year of
worshiping this God who protectsshepherds, who encourages
fertility and animals, becausethat's something that's
important to people at this timeand you want to translate that
fertility and animals to people,right?
So we're going to skin theseanimals in like the sacrificial
(14:02):
way and use those skins and thatessence to hit these women, and
that's you know, again, sort ofvery roughly how we ended up
there.
Also, really similar to Faunus,right?
Lupercus is also sometimeslooped in with the god Pan in
Greek mythology, another reallycool kind of through line
between these different thingswe're talking about.
In addition to the fertilityaspect, the festival also served
(14:30):
another purpose.
It's believed by somehistorians that this served as
the sexual initiation of youngmen, a transition into adulthood
.
So if you Google the history ofValentine's Day right now, a
lot of the articles willgenerally point you towards
Lupercalia because, again, it isa festival that was celebrated
around February 15.
Here we are, february 14, rightmid February, celebrating
Valentine's Day, and oh, oh,look, this festival has a lot to
(14:52):
do with fertility and andinitiations into being an adult,
sexually, right.
Okay, I can understand why wewould think that, but there's
also this really interestingaspect of Lupercalia which I
think sort of seals its fate,whether or not it's totally true
that it is the precursor ofValentine's Day, and that is the
fact that some say Lupercaliaincluded a matchmaking ritual
(15:15):
where men would pull the namesof women out of a jar or an urn
and remain coupled up with thatperson for the duration of the
celebration, and maybe evenlonger if there was actually a
match there.
This information comes from theNPR article by Arnie Seipel, but
again, there's conflictingbeliefs on this one.
Some scholars even reject thatthis matchmaking ritual existed
(15:37):
entirely.
But regardless of this piece,it's certainly a festival filled
with drunken debauchery, asmost Roman festivals seem to
have been, if sources are to bebelieved.
It's also interesting to notethat the festival seemed to calm
down a bit as time went on.
So while perhaps at its peak itwas this naked, drunken,
violent you know extravaganza,for lack of a better word Over
(16:01):
time it became a little bit moresubtle.
The people would tend to wearclothes instead of stripping
naked, and women were hit ontheir hands instead of anywhere
on their bodies.
I'm not saying that that'sentirely better, I'm just saying
that that seems to be kind of abit of an evolution, with the
festival Jumping ahead to the5th century, pope Galatius
(16:22):
officially declared February14th to be Valentine's Day.
So how did we get there?
Some believe this was part of aplan to convert this pagan
tradition again the tradition ofLupercalia to a more
quote-unquote, civilizedChristian version, something we
see with many major paganholidays from antiquity.
But there are a few differentand fun reasons why the name
(16:44):
Valentine may have gottendragged into this whole thing.
So I want to talk to you alittle bit about some of the
urban legend and folklore ofwhat kind of happened, but we'll
know that there's a bit of aplot twist at the end.
Perhaps the most romantic ofthese stories dates back to the
3rd century AD, when EmperorClaudius II was so frustrated
(17:05):
that his soldiers missed theirspouses and children so much
while they were away at war thathe banned marriage.
And so, again you know,claudius had all of these men
and boys out fighting and theywere pining over their lost
loved ones and their wives andtheir children.
And he grew so frustrated withthis, which he saw as a weakness
, and he decided to ban marriageas an easy fix right.
(17:27):
He thought all relationshipswere distractions from his army
and from war and fighting andprotecting your home.
But a priest named FatherValentine refused to honor his
ban and continued to performclandestine wedding ceremonies.
Forever a romantic, I would say.
And so the story continues thatEmperor Claudius II figured out
(17:47):
what Father Valentine was up toand had him arrested.
While the priest awaited hisexecution date, legend has it
that the couples that he wedwould visit him in prison and
pass him flowers and trinketsthrough the bars of his cell.
But things get even mushier.
Father Valentine was scheduledto be put to death on February
14th, but it turned out that hehad fallen in love with the
(18:09):
daughter of his captor.
Of course, some even claim thathe was able to restore the
sight of his jailer's blinddaughter.
So some say that he really wasquite talented.
So of course, he left her aletter before he was killed,
which he signed from yourValentine.
You can see the through linehere to our modern day tradition
of giving out Valentine's cardsto classmates and crushes, but
(18:31):
of course also this idea ofclaiming someone as your
Valentine.
Right, will you be my Valentine.
And all of this is well andgood.
But sadly for Father Valentine,he was eventually beheaded in
Rome.
It's estimated that he diedsometime during 270 AD, and
though some legends connect thedate of his execution to
February 14th.
(18:52):
It's more likely thatValentine's Day falls on
February 14th because ofLupercalia, and, not to exclude
anyone, there are actually othersaints to consider here.
So I'm going to quote here fromthe Smithsoniancom article by
Lisa Battelle the Gory Originsof Valentine's Day, quote
ancient sources reveal thatthere were several St Valentines
(19:12):
who died on February 14th.
Two of them were executedduring the reign of Roman
Emperor Claudius Gothicus in 269to 270 AD, at a time when
prosecution of Christians wascommon.
How do we know this?
Because an order of Belgianmonks spent three centuries
collecting evidence for thelives of saints from manuscript
(19:32):
archives around the world.
Jumping ahead in the article alittle bit here, but continuing
the quote, quote the earliestValentinus is said to have died
in Africa along with 24 soldiers.
Unfortunately, even theBalandists, who are the monks
collecting this data, could notfind any more information about
him.
As the monks knew.
Sometimes all that the saintsleft behind was a name and a day
(19:54):
of death, end quote.
So I think that gives us alittle more understanding about
why things are so murky and whythere are so many different
versions of these kind ofromantic events, that that
happen surrounding and leadingup to Valentine's Day.
Even these monks who arecompiling this information
hundreds of years ago sort ofunderstand the shortcomings of
the of the data that they weregiven, and they say that it's
(20:17):
likely that it's not actuallythese three different saints
named Valentine who areseparately executed in all of
these different lingeringstories.
It's likely that thisinformation was written down
different ways, with differentinformation, but it was all
based on one source event, right?
And so that's the thing that wedon't have a ton of information
about, beyond what these monkshave collected.
And so all of the legend that Ijust talked you through, right,
(20:40):
the imprisoned priest beingable to heal the blind, or
performing these secretChristian marriage rituals or
passing notes between you know,different Christian lovers All
of this is thought to be a bitmore romantic than what happened
in actuality and a bit of urbanlegend, but I like to include
it because I think that it isquite fun, right, and it's a
good story, and if you've everbeen to a very old historic
(21:04):
church or monastery acrossEurope, you know a lot of them
have what they claim to berelics of saints, and there are
quite a few that claim to haverelics of St Valentine.
Because, again, it's just sucha sprawling history that has not
been very well documented orcontained, and so the
imagination has been left to runwild.
And I want to share a funtidbit from that article, called
(21:25):
St Valentine's Day, by EllenCastillo, and this is on
historic-ukcom Quote.
The first real association of StValentine's Day with romantic
love or lovebirds derives fromGeoffrey Chaucer's Parliament of
Fowls, dating from 1382.
Chaucer celebrated theengagement of the 15-year-old
King Richard II to Anne ofBohemia via a poem in which he
(21:48):
wrote True to form, though itwas a Frenchman who is recorded
as sending the earliestsurviving Valentine's note to
his sweetheart Charles.
The Duke of Orleans was writingto her from his prison cell in
the Tower of London followinghis capture at the Battle of
Agincourt in 1415.
(22:10):
In the poem, the Duke talks ofhis love for his wife and refers
to her as my very sweetValentine.
So again, obviously this is avery similar piece of history,
right?
And I would say that theversion I shared moments ago
about the priest is probably abit more folklore.
Well, this has more historicproof behind it.
Ellen Castillo, in her article,also points out that by 1601,
(22:32):
this holiday appears to be apretty established part of
English tradition right and kindof makes an appearance in
William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Okay, jumping ahead to moderntimes, let's take a moment to
shed some light on the infamousicon of Valentine's Day, cupid.
You're probably alreadyfamiliar with Cupid, a cherub
(22:53):
god of love and attraction.
The ancient Greek version isEros.
Cupid has been adorningcartoons and greeting cards for
decades, and Cupid'sheart-tipped arrow has become a
symbol of Valentine's Day.
But who decided that a baby ina diaper should be the symbol of
the most romantic day in thecalendar?
(23:14):
A question that we deserve ananswer to.
It seems like folks have sort oftried to rationalize this
decision away by assigningmeaning to his quality.
So, for example, this decisionaway by assigning meaning to his
quality.
So, for example, it's said thathe carries an arrow and torch
because of the often harmful andinflammatory side effects of
love and passion.
His wings represent thefickleness of lovers.
Cupid's arrows have two typesof powers His golden tip arrows
(23:37):
can inject and instigate love,while his dull lead arrows can
cause a lover to retreat.
But because it's so interesting,let's talk a little bit about
the history of Cupid.
So, like I said, cupid startedout as the Greek god Eros and
was later re-skinned by theRomans into Cupid.
Eros is the Greek word fordesire.
Eros' parents were Aphroditeand Ares or, on the Roman side,
(24:00):
venus and Mars.
Either way, his parents are thegods of love and war, blending
into a fiery, passionate sun.
Quoting from the Time articleby Rachel E Greenspan.
Quote the original Cupid wasmore of a heartthrob than a
cherub.
Traced back to 700 BC, thischaracter of legend was called
Eros, the Greek word for desire.
In the archaic period, eros,the son of Aphrodite, the
(24:23):
goddess of love, would play withthe hearts of mortals and gods.
So this was seen right assomewhat of a sinister, ominous
quality, as a punishment.
Quoting from Hippodiles, a 5thcentury BCE play by Euripides,
(24:53):
quote I pray that love may nevercome to me with murderous
intent, in rhythms measurelessand wild.
End.
Quote.
And in this case the word lovetranslates to Eros or Cupid.
So again, this real fear thatthis god of love would come to
you and match you with somebodyas a punishment right, instead
of matching you with somebody asa wonderful thing.
But around the fourth centuryBCE there was a shift in popular
perception of Eros.
(25:14):
Before this point in history,he was described as incredibly
powerful, a being to fear,despite his associations with
love, and while perhaps hisreputation can be traced back to
the power of his father, it'sactually the power of his mother
that softens his image.
It came to be a common beliefthat Eros answered to his mother
, the goddess of love, and ifthat's true, then there was
(25:36):
nothing to fear.
This shift in perceptionsoftened his image quite
significantly.
Another way to limit his powerand strength is, of course, to
depict him as a child.
So if he truly is an entitythat people live in fear of,
then of course it makes sense totry to figure out some way to
make him seem less threatening.
And by the time he wasRomanified, if you will, he was
(25:57):
already seen as a cherub.
Cupid's popularity surged againwith the Renaissance painters,
who seemed to be particularlytaken with him, always painting
him as a child.
Quoting one more time fromGreenspan's Time article, this
time on the more modern historyof Valentine's Day, quote the
industry really hit its stridein the 1850s after Congress
(26:18):
voted to decrease postage ratesin an effort to circumvent the
privatization of the postalservice.
This postal reform made itpossible for everyday Americans
to send and receive mail, whilethe Industrial Revolution
brought the advent of printingpress technology.
So when Hallmark beganmanufacturing Valentine's Day
cards in 1916, this massproduction meant sending
(26:41):
postcards was much cheaper andeasier.
As Valentine's Day became moreconvenient, cupid imagery only
continued to grow, end quote.
And just a side note that Ididn't know and I thought it's
interesting Hallmark actuallystarted as a postcard company in
1910.
There is so much more to each ofthese myths and legends and
it's very, very complicated, andthere's, I kind of think of it
(27:04):
as three different pillars.
Right, there's the first pillar, which is Lupercalia, which
again is highly, highly debated.
A lot of people think there'sjust absolutely nothing there
besides this kind of tangentialthematic alignment, that it
really has nothing to do withthe history of Valentine's Day
as we know today.
Okay, but I still maintain thatthere is a history and a
(27:24):
precedent across thousands ofyears to have celebrations
mid-February, right?
So even if it's just thechoosing of a date, I think that
that's important.
Then we have the second pillar,which is really what we don't
know about St Valentine, right?
And how many St Valentines werethere actually?
And are any of these differentstories true to St Valentine?
(27:45):
Or was it actually thisFrenchman right in the 1800s?
And so there is a lot of ebband flow here, but we do know St
Valentine was a person and theywere executed.
But there's so much to fill inhere and obviously urban legend
has done the trick.
And then the third pillar, Ithink, is really modern day,
valentine's traditions, right,and Cupid really brings us into
(28:07):
modern times.
And then, of course, thecommercialization comes through,
with the things that we dotoday, sending chocolates and
flowers and roses and cards toeach other.
You know, I think that'ssomething that has a through
line, you know, and growing upin the 90s, bringing your little
Valentine's Day sheets topeople was super fun and I
enjoyed doing that.
You'd punch out the littlecards and fill them in and send
(28:28):
a carnation to your friends,which was maybe highly toxic,
but you know what I look back infond memory.
Okay.
So of course, we have to talkabout horror films that play
with Valentine's Day and, unlikesome topics on this podcast,
which really tried to trace backa horror trope to its historic
roots, this is a little bitdifferent, but there are still
(28:50):
some really fun Valentine's Dayhorror films, so let's talk
about them.
The first is the Love Witchfrom 2016, which was directed by
Anna Billier and it starsSamantha Robinson.
It tells the story of a witchwho uses ritual spells to incite
love.
I mean, the best part of thismovie to me is this beautiful
pulp novel aesthetic and whileit's not a thousand percent a
(29:14):
film about Valentine's Day, it'sgot that icky sort of sticky,
lovey-dovey mushiness, but likein a horrifying way.
I 10 out of 10.
I cannot talk about the LoveWitch enough.
That is a whole topic on itself.
Raising Cain from 1992 by BrianDe Palma is also a really good
(29:35):
Valentine's Day film and ittakes place on Valentine's Day,
so it's much more related, andit stars John Lith Lithgow.
10 out of 10.
Couldn't recommend more.
My Bloody Valentine from 1981.
And then there's a 2009 remakeas well.
This film is usually at the topof the list for Valentine's Day
horror movies.
It tells the story of a localurban legend in the form of a
(29:57):
killer that comes to be onValentine's Day and for
something a little bit differentPicnic at Hanging Rock from
1975.
It's based on an Australianhistorical fiction novel by Joan
Lindsay.
It's famous for its very softand dreamy visuals and it tells
the story of a group of girlsfrom the Victorian era who are
taken on a picnic by theheadmistress of their private
(30:19):
school Until, of course,something horrible happens.
Valentine from 2001,.
Right, an early 2000s slashermovie which we always love, and
this one stars Denise Richardsand Katherine Heigl.
It was directed by Jamie Blanksand it tells the story of four
young women looking for love onValentine's Day and also shout
out to our friend Kate Rotunda.
Kate is really I like to callher our horror encyclopedia
(30:42):
friend.
She knows every horror movieand is such a great resource and
helps us with some of theresearch for different lists and
things that we put out and andit's just all in an amazing
person.
But she also added to her listthis year which will be coming
out on social media, lisaFrankenstein and Death Becomes
Her.
I would say it's interesting.
Usually Kate and I have totallydifferent lists for these
(31:04):
topics, but Valentine's Day waspretty close and I would also
sign off on Lisa Frankensteinand Death Becomes Her and
Jennifer's Body.
Actually she added that as well.
I feel like I think aboutValentine's Day horror movies in
the same way I think aboutHalloween horror movies, in that
obviously, jennifer's Body isnot really a Valentine's Day
horror movie.
However, it's very fun and it'slove themed and that alone kind
(31:29):
of makes it right for theholiday.
Lisa Frankenstein I actuallysaw in theaters on February 13th
last year, so to me it willalways be associated with
Valentine's Day.
Every year, thousands of peoplesend letters to arrive on
Valentine's Day to Verona, italy.
All of these letters areaddressed to Juliet, the leading
character in Shakespeare'sinfamous play Romeo and Juliet.
(31:50):
These letters don't remainunopened.
Quite the opposite, they areopened and responded to by
volunteer members of the JulietClub.
Each year the club awards thetitle of Cara Giulietta, dear
Juliet, to the letter they findto be the most touching and
moving.
We all know that this year andthe next few will undoubtedly be
scary and difficult.
(32:11):
I think for a lot of us rightnow things already feel scary
and there are certainly biggerfish to fry than the history of
Valentine's Day.
But I wanted to leave us withthis cute little story about
Verona, italy, and the lettersto Juliet, because one art
really can endure and two artreally can make a difference,
and finding little moments tocelebrate love in all of its
(32:33):
forms and shapes is a verypowerful act.
So for anyone who doescelebrate Valentine's Day, happy
Valentine's Day to you and foranyone who doesn't.
Thank you for listening, becauseI think at the root of all of
it is that things are not whatthey seem.
Traditions are never what theyseem.
The reason why we celebratethings today is never the reason
why something started to becelebrated thousands of years
(32:54):
ago.
And I think all of that justspeaks to the need for humanity
to adapt and change as time goeson.
And I'm not saying that weshouldn't celebrate Valentine's
Day, but I am saying that weshould be open-minded and shift
our thinking and haveconversations with those around
us and make sure that we areadapting as things change and as
we learn more about the worldand what people need.
(33:15):
Thank you guys for listening.
I hope this solo episode wasn'ttotally boring without Alan's
interjections every few minutesthroughout.
Don't worry, he will be backsoon.
I hope all of you are stayingsafe, staying well.
We will talk to you soon.
Bye.
Thanks for watching.
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