Valentine's Day

Yesterday, I was lamenting the fact that I had not yet gotten the Boy anything for Valentine's Day. Don't worry, a friend said, Valentine's Day is a holiday for girls... you don't need to get the Boy anything but a card....

This got me thinking... is Valentine's Day really just a holiday for girls? I decided it was time for a history lesson....

According to History.com, Valentine's Day, which most people think started with some dusty old martyr name Saint Valentine, was actually another one of those old pagan holidays that the Church ripped off.

Evidently, it used to be some type of fertility ritual in Rome called Lupercalia. The Romans sacrificed a dog and a goat and then the men ran naked through the streets with bloody animal skins and smacked the women with them so that they would be fertile.

Now that is romantic.

So, I guess Valentine's Day really did start as a holiday for women! Now I don't feel so bad. I just hope that the Boy doesn't try to recreate the pagan ritual instead of presenting me with sparkling and/or flowering tokens of his affection.