LUPERCALIA, (ST VALENTINE'S DAY IS HERE!)

Happy Valentine's Day.

The Roman Festival of the Lupercalia, held in the middle of February, was a romantic occasion and probably the origin of St. Valentine's Day. Boys would draw girls' names out of a box and be paired off accordingly for the coming year. In some Roman eras, "licentious games" were also part of the festivities. In the Middle Ages, the church tried to make St Valentine's Day religious by having people draw saints names out of the box and emulate the saint in the coming year but by the 16th century girls names were in the boxes again.

No one knows what the original St Valentine, of whom there were at least two, had to do with love and romance.

Before 1653 Valentine greetings had to be delivered by hand. The first mailboxes in Europe were erected in Paris in 1653 but they did not last long because messengers afraid of losing their jobs put mice in them.

According to a very old belief, birds begin mating on St Valentine's Day. Here is a rose for you!

I couldn't find a photo of a red rose so here is an apricot one instead. I love growing roses and have many in my garden. There are many fragrant ones amongst them.
(Here is the postman - I had better go and help him he has such a large load of cards for me today!)