The Roman Catholic Church recognises Saint Valentine as a real person who died in the third century in Rome.
The festival saw men strip naked and sacrifice a goat and dog before grabbing goat or dog skin whips and using them on young women in hopes of increasing their fertility.
The festival saw men strip naked and sacrifice a goat and dog before grabbed goat- or dog-skin whips and spanked young women in hopes of increasing their fertility.
Another of the most widely-believed accounts suggests that a priest, Valentine of Terni, was sentenced to death on 14 February for disobeying Emperor Claudius II.
Soon after, the Catholic church declared February 14 to be a day of feasts to celebrate the martyred Saint Valentine.
