Why February 14? Is it because it's so
cold, and thus a good time to cuddle under the blankets? There's much more to it
that that.
Psychologist Galdino Pranzarone knows all about the origin, history and
symbolism of Valentine's Day. He says, "February has been the traditional time
of year when, after the winter solstice and during the apparent lengthening of
daylight period, many animals—with us humans among them—begin the yearly frenzy
of spring mating and reproduction. The Romans held love and fertility
celebrations in February. These were called the Lupercalia, a time of love,
eroticism and sexual license.
"During the Lupercalia party in Rome, young men chose their sexual partners
by a drawing of 'billets,' small paper cards, with women's names on them.
Christians later denounced the use of these cards as lewd and pagan custom. The
Church tried to substitute the exchange of prayer and sermon cards at this time
of year, but the people reverted to hand-made love notes. The commercialization
of the Valentine card occurred in recent history at the end of the Victorian
Era."
According to Pranzarone, the origin of the heart symbol was probably the
shape of human female buttocks seen from the rear, and not an actual heart.
Again, we can thank the Greeks and Romans for this. "The Greek goddess of
beauty, Aphrodite, was beautiful all over, but was unique in that her buttocks
were especially beautiful," he says. "Her shapely, rounded hemispheres were so
appreciated by the Greeks that they built a special temple to Aphrodite
Kallipygos, which literally meant, 'Goddess with the Beautiful Buttocks.' This
was probably the only religious building in the world that was dedicated to
buttock worship."
Cupid—the Roman god of love, desire and lust—is the son of Venus, the
goddess of beauty. "So we see here that the goddess of beauty gives birth to the
little god of love, desire and lust," Pranzarone says. "This Cupid was no
innocent kid, either. Even though he was a cute cherub, he flew about naked
shooting people in the heart with arrows. His relationship with his mother was
not particularly wholesome, either. Several paintings from the Renaissance show
a rather incestuous relationship existing between Cupid and Venus."
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