Celebrated between February 13 and 15, Lupercalia was a pagan fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, and Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome.

Pope Gelasius I is said to have replaced the Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia with St. Valentine's Day in the fifth century. The first mass-produced valentines were sold in the 1840s.

Pope Gelasius I is said to have replaced the Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia with St. Valentine's Day in the fifth century. The first mass-produced valentines were sold in the 1840s.

Eventually, Lupercalia was banned and Feb. 14 was deemed as "St. Valentine's Day." When was love first associated with the holiday? In the Middle Ages, ...

Noel Lenski, a Yale University historian, pointed to the seasonal and thematic connections between Lupercalia and modern Valentine’s Day. Both are erotic festivals, in a sense, ...

Pope Gelasius I is said to have replaced the Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia with St. Valentine's Day in the fifth century. The first mass-produced valentines were sold in the 1840s.

Pope Gelasius I is said to have replaced the Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia with St. Valentine's Day in the fifth century. The first mass-produced valentines were sold in the 1840s.

Pope Gelasius I is said to have replaced the Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia with St. Valentine's Day in the fifth century. The first mass-produced valentines were sold in the 1840s.

Pope Gelasius I is said to have replaced the Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia with St. Valentine's Day in the fifth century. The first mass-produced valentines were sold in the 1840s.