That's right, Valentine's Day did not start out with poems and chocolates. It started with a bunch of drunken, nude Romans.

Every year, the ancient Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia from Feb. 13-15. This pagan fertility festival celebrated an ancient god who protected the people from wolves. At the beginning of the celebration, the men would sacrifice a goat and a dog, then whip the women with the hides of those animals. Romantic, no?

During this naked, drunken party, the town's young women would get in line and wait for the men to hit them. Yep, that's right. They wanted to be hit because they believed it would make them fertile.

After a good time of being whipped with dead animals, the ladies then had a chance to be included in a matchmaking lottery. The men drew names and then were "coupled" with that woman for the night.