“One word frees us of all the...

“One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.”

--Sophocles

Monday is Valentine’s Day, the day for love. *

Some scholars say Valentine’s Day has its roots in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia. Every February, the names of young Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed in a jar. Each young man would take a slip and a courting process would begin.

In AD 496, Pope Gelasius outlawed the pagan festival, but replaced it with a feast day for St. Valentine, a Christian priest who had been beheaded two centuries earlier for defying Roman Emperor Claudius II.

Claudius had ordered his soldiers not to marry because he believed that single men made better fighters. Valentine continued to marry couples secretly, but apparently not secretly enough.

* In honor of Valentine’s Day, minister Tom Johnson of the Woodland Hills Church of Religious Science will offer married couples the opportunity to renew their vows at a special ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Sunday. Free. For location and information, call (818) 883-1300.

* The Los Angeles Zoo is celebrating Valentine’s Day this weekend with free face-painting, crafts and music for children. For adult couples, the zoo is staging a Prime Mate Party from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, featuring a tour of the zoo’s most successful breeding nonhuman couples. The Prime Mate Party costs $40 per human, $60 per couple. Call (818) 644-6400.

* If music be the food of love, but you’re a little short on the green stuff, have no fear! The New Valley Symphony Orchestra presents “Romantic Divertimento,” a free concert featuring pieces by Rachmaninoff, Smetana, Bizet and others, Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Hall of Liberty, Forest Lawn, Forest Lawn Drive, Burbank. (818) 342-8400.

* Love is not just for kids. The Mello Tones, a choral group, will give a special Valentine’s Day concert for senior citizens Monday at 12:30 p.m. at Joslyn Adult Center, 1301 W. Olive Ave., Burbank. Admission is free. (818) 238-5370.

* According to a survey conducted for the American Boxed Chocolate Manufacturers, 16% of Americans say eating chocolate puts them in a romantic mood.