The origins of Valentine's Day trace back to the ancient Roman celebration of Lupercalia. Held on February 15, Lupercalia honored the gods of Lupercus and Faunus, as well as the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.
In addition to a bountiful feast, Lupercalia festivities are purported to have included the pairing of young women and men. Men would draw women's names from a box, and each couple would be paired until next year's celebration. Many of these pairings resulted in marriages.
While this pairing of couples set the tone for today's holiday, it wasn't called "Valentine's Day" until a priest named Valentine came along. Valentine, a romantic at heart, disobeyed Emperor Claudius II's decree that soldiers remain bachelors. Claudius handed down this decree believing that soldiers would be distracted and uable to concentrate on fighting if they were married or engaged. Valentine defied the Emperor and secretly performed marriage ceremonies. As a result of his defiance, Valentine was put to death on February 14th.
After Valentine's death, he was named a saint. As Christianity spread through Rome, the priests moved Lupercalia from February 15th to February 14th and renamed it St. Valentine's Day to honor Saint Valentine.
