Such lashings were supposed to ensure fertility and easy childbirth for the women who received them, although we'd like to hear the women's point of view on the matter. Saint Valentines may have been named the patron saints of love because of legends surrounding them. During times of war, when marriages were prohibited, one of the Valentines may have performed marriage ceremonies in secret. Aside from this, there was no obvious connection between the two Saint Valentines and the way we currently celebrate Valentine's Day. Today, many thousands of valentines are produced each year.
Cupid comes from an entirely different source, the ancient Roman collection of gods.
Cupid was the son of Mercury and Venus and was usually portrayed as a chubby, winged infant who caused people to fall in love by shooting them with arrows. Some tales depicted Cupid as uncaring and flaky, but he was usually considered to be magnanimous and kind. I really didn't want to write it, largely because I thought the idea for the article was dumb. This comes across, I think, in my sarcastic lead paragraph. This work may not be transmitted via the Internet, nor reproduced in any other way, without written consent from Eric D. Snider.