Valentine's

I came across something quite interesting about the origins of Valentine’s Day.

First of all, this day has been attributed to different saints by the name of Valentine and with many different theories in regards to the origins of this day.

In the ancient pagan cultures of Rome and Greece, the month of February is the month of romance, fertility and spring, which goes to show that this day is not a festival celebrated by Christians.

Apparently, Valentine’s Day originated from two pagan festivals called Lupercalia and the Feast of Juno Februata. They are both celebrated on February 15^th.

Lupercalia celebrated fertility in honor of a Roman God, Lupercus. He was the embodiment of fertility, sexuality and lust. He was basically half-man and half-goat.

To officiate the festival, two naked boys, assisted by Vestal virgins would sacrifice a goat and a dog. The youths would anoint themselves with the blood of the animals and cut the goat’s skin into long strips called Februa. The boys would run around and strike any girl that came close with the Februa, which was done to bestow fertility to the girls and purify them from curses and bad luck.

The Feast of Juno Februata (The Lover’s Lottery) would be celebrated after Lupercalia in the honor of Juno Februa who was a Roman Goddess of love, marriage and women.

For the feast, the girls would write their names on slips of paper and boys would then pick them out of a container. The girl whose name is on the slip would become the boy’s partner for the “entire day”.

It was in 494 AD, that Pope Gelasius I decided to suppress pagan festivals during the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantine (288-337 AD) who accepted Christianity but continued celebrating pagan festivals.

He did that by attempting to Christianize these two festivals. He replaced Lupercalia with the Feast of Purfication of Virgin Mary celebrated on February 15^th till this very day.

He also replaced the Feast of Juno Februata with St. Valentine’s Day and moved it to February 14^th. Instead of having a lottery of girls, the lottery was now replaced with the names of Christian saints, whom the youths would pick out and emulate them for the day.

In short, Valentine’s Day originates from ancient pagan cultures and was Christianized because the people refused to stop celebrating them.

Some people object to celebrating this day as its seen as highly perverted and an insult to women. It is not only seen as a celebration of fertility and love but also encourages the fulfillment of lust, desire and sex.

While others just want to have a dedicated day where they can shower and be showered with special gifts and gestures to and by loved ones.

Whether or not people should celebrate this day is entirely up to them. I only hope that they know what this day or any other day of celebration symbolizes so they know exactly what they are doing. This also applies to everything else we do in our lives.

I’m making a public service announcement to everyone:

“Please be aware of what you do and why you do it. Educate yourselves if necessary. Life would have more meaning and make more sense this way.”