The ancient Romans loved games and festivals. They were either preparing for or enjoying some sort of festival or celebration just about every day of the year! In the process, the ancient Romans "invented" the origins of many of the fun holiday activities we enjoy today.

The ancient Roman festival called Lupercalia honored love. On this day, young people in ancient Rome chose future marriage partners by drawing names from a hat. Can you imagine choosing your husband or wife by drawing a name from a hat? As you might guess, some of these relationships did not turn out very well and did not last very long. But some worked out very well. Some couples stayed married for life.

Cupid has played a role in the celebration of love for a very long time. To the ancient Romans, Cupid was the son of Venus (the Roman goddess of love & beauty.) In ancient Greece, Cupid was known as Eros, the son of Aphrodite (the Greek goddess of love and beauty.)