In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius I declared that 14th February would be the feast day of St Valentine. In Rome since ancient times, the day had been the pagan festival of Lupercalia. If you want to celebrate the occasion in the old way, you need first to sacrifice a dog and two goats. Then you guys can run naked through the streets hitting any girls you meet with thongs - but not the thongs you’re thinking of - to ensure their fertility. Or you can just buy your woman a card. As for St Valentine himself, we really have no idea who he was. To add further to the confusion, there were actually three of them. It’s likely that the first clear linking of St Valentine’s Day with the subject of love was made in the Middle Ages by Geoffrey Chaucer, author of Canterbury Tales. When Richard II got engaged to Anne of Bohemia, Chaucer wrote them a poem which contains the lines:“For this was sent on Saint Valentine’s Day,
“When every fowl comes there to choose a mate.”
Although I prefer to celebrate the feast day of St Dwynwen, patron saint of Welsh lovers, I’ll still be sending Emma a card. I leave you to guess the significance of the tiger.
