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(Photo credit: my friend and Moose's mommy, Renee James)
Reference: Tamed Wild
Showing posts with label Tamed Wild. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tamed Wild. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 01, 2023
Monday, February 13, 2023
Lupercalia: The History of a Holiday! (and a pleasant surprise!)
What's in a Holiday?: Lupercalia
I have always been fascinated by our holiday traditions and where they actually came from. St. Valentine’s Day, as with so many of the contemporary holidays which we, as Americans, celebrate today, has its’ beginnings in Paganism. In ancient Rome, a Pagan fertility and purification festival called Lupercalia, was celebrated. Lupercalia is uniquely Roman and was named after the fertility god Lupercus, protector of flocks against wolves. In fact, he was often identified with the gods Pan and Faunus.
Lupercalia was an important festival and historical records indicate that Mark Antony was Master of the Luperci College of Priests. In the year 44BC,, he chose the Lupercalia festival as the proper time to offer the crown to Julius Caesar. Since February occurred later on the ancient calendar than it does today, Lupercalia was held in the spring. Each year on February 15, the Luperci priests gathered on Palatine Hill at the cave of Lupercal. Young men wore their loincloths and led the priests around the pomerium, the sacred boundary of the ancient city, and around the base of the hills of Rome.
Long after Palatine became the center of the powerful city, state and empire of Rome, the Lupercalia festival lived on. Roman armies took the Lupercalia customs with them as they invaded France and Britain. One of these customs was a lottery where the names of available maidens were placed in a box and then drawn by the young men. Each man accepted the girl whose name he drew as his love for the duration of the festival, which lasted from February 13th to the 15th, sometimes longer.
Circa 289AD, a Christian named Valentine of Rome was martyred under the Emperor Claudius. Valentine was a bishop in the city who was arrested for giving aid to prisoners. While in prison, he was said to have converted his jailer by healing the man’s blind daughters’ sight. He then fell in love with her and from his death row cell, he wrote her a note signed, “From Your Valentine.”
Somewhere around 197AD, Christianity began to slowly do away with the Pagan pantheons. It frequently replaced the festivals of the Pagan gods with its’ own modern celebrations to fit the life and teachings of Christ. Lupercalia, with its’ lover lottery, had no place in the new order. In the year 496AD, Pope Gelasius did away with the festival of Lupercalia, citing it as Pagan and immoral. He chose Valentine as the Patron Saint of lovers who would be honored at the new festival on February 14th.
It is believed that the very first valentine cards were the slips of paper bearing the names of maidens the early Romans first drew. Or, perhaps the note which Valentine passed to his sweetheart from his prison cell.
By the 17th century; however, handmade cards became quite elaborate and pre-fabricated ones were only for the wealthy. In 1797, a British publisher issued, “The Young Man’s Valentine Writer,” which contained suggested sentimental literature for the young lover. Today, the St. Valentine’s Day traditions continue with the giving of chocolates, jewelry and flowers. An estimated 1 billion St. Valentine’s Day cards will be sent worldwide, making it the second most celebrated holiday after Christmas.
💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕More on the origins of this holiday is further explored in this article from the "Tamed Wild" website: 
💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘
Last night after I got home from work, hubby surprised me with these beautiful gifts!
Have a Blessed day, however you choose to celebrate this special holiday!
I have always been fascinated by our holiday traditions and where they actually came from. St. Valentine’s Day, as with so many of the contemporary holidays which we, as Americans, celebrate today, has its’ beginnings in Paganism. In ancient Rome, a Pagan fertility and purification festival called Lupercalia, was celebrated. Lupercalia is uniquely Roman and was named after the fertility god Lupercus, protector of flocks against wolves. In fact, he was often identified with the gods Pan and Faunus.
Long after Palatine became the center of the powerful city, state and empire of Rome, the Lupercalia festival lived on. Roman armies took the Lupercalia customs with them as they invaded France and Britain. One of these customs was a lottery where the names of available maidens were placed in a box and then drawn by the young men. Each man accepted the girl whose name he drew as his love for the duration of the festival, which lasted from February 13th to the 15th, sometimes longer.
Circa 289AD, a Christian named Valentine of Rome was martyred under the Emperor Claudius. Valentine was a bishop in the city who was arrested for giving aid to prisoners. While in prison, he was said to have converted his jailer by healing the man’s blind daughters’ sight. He then fell in love with her and from his death row cell, he wrote her a note signed, “From Your Valentine.”
Somewhere around 197AD, Christianity began to slowly do away with the Pagan pantheons. It frequently replaced the festivals of the Pagan gods with its’ own modern celebrations to fit the life and teachings of Christ. Lupercalia, with its’ lover lottery, had no place in the new order. In the year 496AD, Pope Gelasius did away with the festival of Lupercalia, citing it as Pagan and immoral. He chose Valentine as the Patron Saint of lovers who would be honored at the new festival on February 14th.
It is believed that the very first valentine cards were the slips of paper bearing the names of maidens the early Romans first drew. Or, perhaps the note which Valentine passed to his sweetheart from his prison cell.
By the 17th century; however, handmade cards became quite elaborate and pre-fabricated ones were only for the wealthy. In 1797, a British publisher issued, “The Young Man’s Valentine Writer,” which contained suggested sentimental literature for the young lover. Today, the St. Valentine’s Day traditions continue with the giving of chocolates, jewelry and flowers. An estimated 1 billion St. Valentine’s Day cards will be sent worldwide, making it the second most celebrated holiday after Christmas.
💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕
More on the origins of this holiday is further explored in this article from the "Tamed Wild" website:
💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘
Last night after I got home from work, hubby surprised me with these beautiful gifts!
Have a Blessed day, however you choose to celebrate this special holiday!
Saturday, February 04, 2023
The week 'as it were' ...
Greetings everyone! Well, this was my week in a nutshell - a holiday, an appliance headache, and a groundhog ... yup, the about sums it all up! After our washing machine broke down on us the week before, we ordered a new one from Home Depot and The Geek Squad delivered it on Friday. ONLY to find out that not only could they not take away the old one but they could not even install and set up the new one because the old one still had water inside of it that we could not see AND we were told that our water lines needed to be replaced due to some corrosion. Ergo, they refused to do anything but take the new machine downstairs and sit it at the bottom of the basement steps. We will have to take care of this crap and then set up another date for them to do the rest. UGH, what a big mess!
The new "uninstalled" washing machine.
🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑
Moving on, this week we celebrated Imbolg/Imbolc/Candlemas respectively ... (shared from "Tamed Wild" website)
And ...... HERE'S PHIL! ...
I got up early on February 2nd for the express purpose of watching our very own Punxsutawney Phil give his annual weather "prediction" - it will be SIX more weeks of winter which is no surprise since we would have to endure six more week regardless because February 2nd lands right smack in the middle of winter ...
🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔
In other news, with the prices of eggs being as crazy as they are, my mom's neighbor has a friend who owns a farm and was selling fresh farm eggs for only $3.00/dozen.. So, I bought two dozen ($6.00) and began putting them to good use today ...
Egg and cheese omelets for breakfast.
And, French Toast. Both made in the air fryer oven.
🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
My husband found this interesting wine yesterday ... "Scrapple"? (Spiced Cranberry Apple flavored) lol
And last, but certainly not least, a few new kitty pics taken this weekend ...
Butterscotch lounging around on the sofa.
Miss Ginger.
Have a great week all!
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