Love and Bees. Its a Real Thing!

Did you know that St Valentine is the Patron Saint of love and BEEKEEPERS? Yup, love and beekeeping!

Back in Roman times and still to this day, bees are a symbol of romantic love.

For such a happy and sweet filled day, the history of how Valentines Day came to bee is a lot darker.

It is believed that Valentine’s Day originated from Lupercalia, an ancient Roman Festival. Lupercalia, was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus the Roman God of agriculture. We won’t get into how this was celebrated (it’s kind of morbid and distressing) but if you’re interested you should totally check it out (don’t say you weren’t warned).

As Christianity took over, it began incorporating Pagan holidays into their own celebrations. This is exactly what happened to Lupercalia. St Valentine, was a priest and beekeeper. Known for treating his bees with love and compassion. Valentine, defied the Roman Emperor Claudius 11 by secretly marrying couples. This really angered Claudius and he had Valentine tortured and decapitated on February 14th

To honor St Valentine, the Church began calling Lupercalia, Valentines Day

It wasn’t until the Middle Ages when the idea of courtly love became popular that Valentines Day started to become a thing amongst lovers.

Crazy to think that a day that started with an execution is now the Universal day of love.