Today is Valentine's Day. Valentine was the name of several Christian martyrs who laid down their lives for their belief in a) Jesus b) heart-shaped confectionery and c) big padded cards.
It is of course a total coincidence that Lupercalia, the ancient festival of cleansing and fertility, took place between 13th-15th February. (In other words, the 14th. The main day. The headliner day.)
And it's obviously a good thing that it has been replaced, because Lupercalia sounds REALLY boring. This is what Plutarch had to say: 'At this time many of the noble youths and the magistrates run up and down through the city naked, for sport and laughter striking those they meet with shaggy thongs.' Like I say - BORING.
Today I went to visit the site of an ancient nunnery. I've driven past it loads of times, but never had a proper look. According to the information board, its twelfth-century founding was inspired by two women who lived together as hermits* by the river. The Abbot of St Albans was so impressed by their pious ways that he immediately built a nunnery.
(* Or lesbians. With a commendable sense of privacy and self-preservation in twelfth-century Britain.
'NO, NO! I know it LOOKS like we are running up and down naked, striking each other with shaggy thongs for sport and laughter. But we're not! That would be impious. We are SHRIVING ourselves. Like, you know, hermits do... That?? Oh, nothing really. Just a wand of punishment... Yup. More SHRIVING. I know! Ouch! Hey, thanks for the nunnery. Bye!')
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