The Weekly Shawman
Weekly Features

The Weekly Shaman

The Weekly Shawman

by Chris Friend

And finally, it should be noted that Saint Valentine’s Day may be a Christianized form of the earlier Roman Festival of Lupercalia. According to Legend a Christian priest known as Valentine was executed doing illegal marriages in ancient Rome. Roman Soldiers were prohibited from getting married because the Emperor Claudius thought that married soldiers would be less than enthusiastic about going to into battle. Lupercalia was so named after the faun like deity Lupercus, who was a patron to the forest. One of the early practices of Lupercalia was the exchange of notes in lotteries between young Romans allowing the receiver of the notes to sleep with the sender of the notes. This is likely the earliest form of the more innocent exchange of Valentines today. So, it goes.

Happy Imbolc, Candle Mass, Valentine’s or even Lupercalia.