The article "Historical Incorrect Canoodling" by Stephanie Coontz is about the history of Valentines Day. Where it Valentines Day came from and why it started.
In the article it explains that Valentines Day started to replace "a festival honoring Juno, the Roman goddess of love and marriage" and another "Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia". Valentines Day back in A.D. did not represent a day of love, they wanted to take the love out of the day. Lupercalia happens every Feb 15, boys would pick a girl name out of a jar and the girl name that comes up is now that boy "sexual partner for the rest of the year." It also says in the article that the people married without loving one another.
I think it was a good idea to start Valentines Day to take out these festival because girls could not say that they didn't want to participate. The girls in the Lupercalia would just have to have sex with that boy all year and have no say in anything. I don't think it was a good idea to try and take the romance out of Valentines Day.
I wonder what happened from then and now that Valentines Day is all about romance, and being with the one you care about and love. I don't understand why did they marriage without love. What was the point of marrying some one if you don't love them? Did marriage have a different meaning back in the day, then what it is now?
You do a good job with this except for the ending, where you ask a series of questions that were already answered in the article.
ReplyDeleteThe article explains why marriages were not arranged with love in mind.
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