Valentine's pagan, polytheistic start
Vernon Meigs
Issue date: 2/13/09 Section: Opinions
It is another year, another Valentine's Day. The time of year for the celebration of love and the practice of rituals involving Valentine's cards, flowers, chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. So, have you ever wondered how it all started? Well, it is St. Valentine's Day, so it must have to do with St. Valentine, right? Most traditional people may say that this is the case. Now, what did St. Valentine contribute for the day of expressing one's love? Let me just say the Christian account does not tell the true story, if there is such a thing.
Unlike holidays such as Christmas and Easter, it is hard to pinpoint a Christian tradition in Valentine's Day, save for the undertones of the name. As the focus has always been on the expression of love, there has not been anything to do with Jesus Christ: whether it is him dying, being born, being reborn or anything of the sort. This makes any further concern of the origins of the holiday relatively diminished. But first, what is the association with a St. Valentine and the annual day of love? Actually, there are accounts of a large number of Christian saints named Valentine, such as Valentine of Terni and Valentine of Rome. The difference between those two, whom this holiday seems to celebrate, has blurred until they became the same person as far as people were concerned. We do not know further of this St. Valentine other than the fact that February 14th was approximately the date of his death.
Now I will divulge the origins of the holiday of love called Valentine's Day. The ancient Roman Lupercalia was celebrated around this time, in which they honored their fertility goddess, Faunus. Men went to the cave of Lupercal, in which they believed Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were suckled in their infancy by a shewolf. There, men would sacrifice a goat, use its hide as a loincloth, and run around and whip women to ensure fertility. COGwriter.com describes the practice as a "sexual lottery" in which a man and women were coupled in this manner for the holiday and would couple differently the next year.
Unlike holidays such as Christmas and Easter, it is hard to pinpoint a Christian tradition in Valentine's Day, save for the undertones of the name. As the focus has always been on the expression of love, there has not been anything to do with Jesus Christ: whether it is him dying, being born, being reborn or anything of the sort. This makes any further concern of the origins of the holiday relatively diminished. But first, what is the association with a St. Valentine and the annual day of love? Actually, there are accounts of a large number of Christian saints named Valentine, such as Valentine of Terni and Valentine of Rome. The difference between those two, whom this holiday seems to celebrate, has blurred until they became the same person as far as people were concerned. We do not know further of this St. Valentine other than the fact that February 14th was approximately the date of his death.
Now I will divulge the origins of the holiday of love called Valentine's Day. The ancient Roman Lupercalia was celebrated around this time, in which they honored their fertility goddess, Faunus. Men went to the cave of Lupercal, in which they believed Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were suckled in their infancy by a shewolf. There, men would sacrifice a goat, use its hide as a loincloth, and run around and whip women to ensure fertility. COGwriter.com describes the practice as a "sexual lottery" in which a man and women were coupled in this manner for the holiday and would couple differently the next year.
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