Page 12
The Blue Banner
February 10, 2005
Lifestyle
Valentines that rock your world
by LoniBenfield
Staff Rep(rrter
Some people start off Valentine’s
Day sitting in front of their win
dow. Some people slap each other
with goats hide. This all depends
on where you are from.
Although the exact origination of
Valentine’s Day is unknown, peo
ple around the world haven’t
stopped celebrating it in their own
way.
The roots of Valentine’s Day are
in Chri.stianity and ancient Roman
tradition. Some people link
Valentines Day back to the ancient
Roman celebration of Lupercalia,
Lupercus and Faunus and the
founders of Rome, held each year
on Feb. 15 to honor the gods.
“The lupercal was the cave
where a wolf nursed Romulus and
Remus,” said Eric Church, UNCA
student and self proclaimed ‘pos
sessor of useless knowledge’.
“According to legend, they were
the twins who founded Rome.”
The Lupercalia ceremony was a
rite of fertility and purification. To
begin the ceremony, the people
sacrificed a goat and a dog. Then,
the men run around slapping the
women with strips of the goats’
hide.
The people thought that being
slapped by the hide increased the
woman’s fertility for the year and
promoted easy childbirth.
“And you thought your family
was bizarre,” said Church.
Another popular story about the
Roman Emperor Claudius 11, he
forbade men to marry in order to
increase his army. He thought sin
gle men made better soldiers than
men with families.
A priest by the name of Valentine
began marrying couples in secret.
St. Valentine’s Day is to honor
him.
The Romans threw Valentine in
jail because he wouldn’t worship
their gods. The children missed
Valentine and would throw loving
notes through the bars of his Jail
window.
This is where some people think
the tradition of exchanging notes
on Valentine’s Day came from.
People in the United States,
Canada, Mexico, Australia and
t
Traditional American gifts, such as flowers and chocolates, are part of many romantic traditions worldwide.
Europe are the predominant cele-
brators of Valentine’s Day.
In both Scotland and Britain,
there are festivals where single
men and women gather together.
Each writes their name on a piece Depending on the ratio of men to
of paper and puts it in the hat women, some people get two
belonging to their sex. The men names. The rule is that the man
and women exchange hats, must stay with the first woman that
Everyone draws a name. chooses him.
Each man and woman wears
their valentine’s name over their
heart or on their sleeve.
The British exchange anony
mous Valentine’s Day notes signed
Earth Camp
IV
" I
BY: MAGGIE WEST, SOPHMORE MASS COMMUNICATION STUDENT
“Fm sorry Joey, but Mr. Lambert here has already signed
a two-year lease on your closet. You will just have to work
things out. ”
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or Internship???
2005
Summer
Employment Fair
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12-3pm
Highsmith Union
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Visit our website for a list of this
year's participants at
www.unca.edu/career
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STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER >1
with dots, one dot for each letter of J
name.
In Denmark, people send their ftil
pressed white flowers called snj
drops.