.....................................by Boo Gwynne
.................

                               One of the customs of the young people was
                            name-drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia
                            the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper
                            and placed into jars. Each young man drew a slip. The girl
                            whose name was chosen was to be his sweetheart for the
                            year

                               Legend has it that the holiday became Valentine's
                            Day after a priest named Valentine. Valentine was a
                            priest in Rome at the time Christianity was a new religion.
                            The Emperor at that time, Claudius II, ordered the Roman
                            soldiers NOT to marry or become engaged. Claudius
                            believed that as married men, his soldiers would want to
                            stay home with their families rather than fight his wars.
                            Valentine defied the Emperor's decree and secretly
                            married the young couples. He was eventually arrested,
                            imprisoned, and put to death

                               Valentine was beheaded on February 14th, the eve of
                            the Roman holiday Lupercalia. After his death, Valentine
                            was named a saint. As Rome became more Christian, the
                            priests moved the spring holiday from the 15th of
                            February to the 14th - Valentine's Day. Now the holiday
                            honored Saint Valentine instead of Lupercus