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The dark origins of Valentine's Day.
Valentine's Day is a time to celebrate romance and love and kissy-face fealty. But the origins of this festival of candy and cupids are actually dark, bloody — and a bit muddled.
From Feb. 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia. The men sacrificed a goat and a dog, then whipped women with the hides of the animals they had just slain.
The Roman romantics "were drunk. They were naked," Young women would line up for the men to hit them. They believed this would make them fertile.
Be My Valentine.
4x5ft acrylic on canvas.