Valentines Day, like any other ancient holiday, is based on an
equal amount of fact and fiction. The myths are what make the
holiday so romantic and the facts give the myths a bit of a
backbone. The most popular story is such a mix of tales and
legends that it makes it hard to pull out which pieces are
really true. But, who really cares what is true? It's all about
love anyway, right? The Pagan Festival Thousands of years ago,
Rome had a festival in the middle of February. This festival was
dedicated to the pagan god Lupercus. As it was a festival for
male fertility and Women's Rights were not yet fully enacted,
most women find the festival rather distasteful today. Young men
who were coming of age would pick the name of a young woman
randomly from a box. The girl who was chosen would be that young
man's, uh, date for the rest of the year. Because the early
Catholic Church was not a huge fan of this style of drawing,
they insisted the names of saints be drawn by the young men
instead of girls. They boys would