情人节的传说英语美文

Where The Lovin"Comes From

Exchanges of candy and chocolates candle-lit dinners romantic music and lovey-dovey heart-shaped cards are presently how we celebrate St. Valentine"s Day but many centuries ago these material items were far from being what St. Valentine"s Day was all about.

One of the origins of St. Valentine"s Day dates as far back as 269 A.D. and involves a priest by the name of Valentine under the rule of Emperor Claudius in Rome.

During this time Claudius was in need of men to serve as soldiers in the time of war but found that he was not having much luck in recruiting these men because of their attachment and commitments to their wives and female companions. His outrage for a lack of soldiers led him to declare a ban on all further marriages.

As a result Valentine the priest began to perform illegal marriages behind Claudius" back. Of course when Claudius found out he immediately threw Valentine in jail where he was eventually executed.

It was said that?while serving time in jail Valentine fell in love with the daughter of a jailer and secretly wrote love letters to her signed ″from your Valentine.″ Valentine was beheaded on February 14 on the eve of the Lupercalia festival. Around t 496 A.D. Pope Gelasius declared the day of his death to be St. Valentine"s Day in honour of Valentine himself.

The origin of St. Valentine"s Day may instead come from the Christianizing of the pagan Lupercalia festival. During this festival it was said that the Roman priests called Luperci would gather in a sacred cave where according to legend the children of the founders of Rome were raised by a she-wolf or lupa. There the priests sacrificed goats and dogs for fertility and purification purposes. They would then cut the hide of the goats into strips and use these strips to slap the women. This ritual was believed to make women more fertile in the coming year. Evening events involved with the Lupercalia festival included all the single women putting their names into an urn for the single men to draw from. Whichever name each man ended up picking he was to live with that woman for the rest of the year. This usually resulted in marriage later on in the relationship. Associating the matchmaking feast with the martyrdom of Valentine was convenient because the days were almost identical. Now whichever version you choose to believe it"s completely up to you though I doubt it would have much effect on how you celebrate your St. Valentine"s Day this year. Besides slapping women with goat hide -- how romantic can that be? I say stick with the long-stem roses and the teddy bears. That"s much more effective.