Some probably erroneous tidbits I received by email, today. I did not write them and make NO claims as to their veracity! kat

One superstition says that if a girl leaves her house early on Valentine's Day and the first person she meets is a man, then she will be married within three months (quite possibly to that particular man--depending on the guy, she may be better off just staying home).

Less romantic was the old historical opinion that Valentine's Day is a good day to prepare eels for the purposes of magic. Eating an eel's heart was once believed to enable a person to see into the future. I wonder if the vision of what's to come included a serious case of eel-induced food poisoning?

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, traditionallyheld on February 15, also included banquets, dancing andfoot 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.