In modern times, Valentine’s Day is kind of a big deal.

Over 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards will be sent. More than 35 million of those heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be sold. Around $1.5 billion will be spent on flowers. Thousands of proposals happen on February 14th.

Just walking down the hallway today, it’s easy see the effects of the holiday – couples are being grosser than usual, boys are carrying around giant stuffed dogs and wayyy too big cards, and every girl seems to have a bouquet from Walmart in their arms. Not to mention, so. Many. Hugs.

We’ve been celebrating Valentine’s since we were little kids. In elementary school, we decorated shoeboxes with construction paper, glitter, and copious amounts of glue. Our parents bought us Valentine’s cards with Hello Kitty and Spongebob on the front, and if you were really cool, they came with stickers and little suckers. We secretly picked the biggest cards for our best friends, and the worst ones for the people we lowkey hated.

We’ve accepted these Valentine’s traditions, but we never really learned the history behind it.

The exact history isn’t very clear due to the fact that there were many Valentine’s during this time period, but historians know that the holiday is celebrated in honor of Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. Both were Christians who were martyred (killed for their faith), and it’s rumored that both died on February 14th. While it’s unclear what these saints really have to do with romance, the roots of the holiday also lie in an ancient Roman festival called Lupercalia.

Lupercalia was celebrated on February 15th. Roman men would sacrifice a goat, and then they would hit on women… as in, they literally hit women with the dead goat hide. Romans did this because they believed it would increase a woman’s fertility, so women went along with it. The ceremony also involved a matchmaking raffle, in which men would pick the name of a woman from a jar. The couple would be together for a year, and if it worked out, it led to marriage.

After that, many other cultures adopted forms of the Lupercalia festival with slight modifications. Eventually, Shakespeare and Chaucer incorporated it into their works. They romanticized the holiday and shaped it into what we know it as today.

So as we celebrate with gigantic stuffed animals, chocolate boxes, FunDip, and flowers, it’s good to know that the Romans thought love involved hitting women with dead goat skins. Happy Valentine’s Day from the Talon!