> The lover's holiday has its beginnings in the 4th century
> B.C. in Rome. The Romans held an annual lottery wherein
> young men would draw a young woman's name from a box. The
> couple would be assigned to each other the entire year for
> entertainment and pleasure. This celebration, traditionally
> held on February 15, also included banquets, dancing and
> foot races run in the nude.
>
> Around A.D. 496, early church fathers sought an end to the
> pagan practice, but knew better than to upset the citizens
> by removing the lottery completely. Instead, they had
> teenagers pull the names of saints from the box. The teen
> was supposed to spend the year emulating that saint's life
> as much as possible, which was probably not as much fun as
> naked marathons. St. Valentine was chosen as the patron
> saint of the new event, and young Roman men resorted to
> courting females by sending handwritten notes delivered on
> February 14.
>
> Isn't that interesting ?



And that's only one story. The holiday was called Lupercalia, and celebrated both fertility and the founding of Rome. The Luperci (priests) went to the top of a hill on that day, sacrificed a goat, and smeared the blood all over themselves. Wearing only loincloths and the blood, the priests tore the goat's hide into strips, called februa, and ran down the hill, beating anyone they could find. Young women especially liked to take the blows and came in throngs, because it was believed that the whippings insured fertility and healthy birth for children. Personally, I think it was just a gag for the priests. This part of the celebration was followed up with drunken revelry. Of course.

The story goes that young men were forbidden to marry during a war, but Valentine married them anyway (to women, that is) and was thrown into jail. He fell in love with the jailor's daughter, and signed his letters, "From your Valentine." Thus he became the patron saint of lovers.
The Roman Catholic Church replaced Lupercalia with Valentine's Day. Christians used to express meaningful, godly, love for each other on the day.
Commercialization replaced the love holiday with National Condom Day and mounds of chocolate.

Seems like the more it's changed, the less fun it is.