So what is the actual origination of valentines day? and who exactly was saint Valentine? I’m sure you will be amazed to find out some basic facts about Valentines day….
The facts about the origination of valentines day
Saint Valentine was a Roman priest who was murdered around 270 AD some say that there was more than one Valentine but there are sources such as the Oxford Dictionary of Saints, that disputes this and says Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni are the same people.
In any case the thing to note is that there was no connection to any type or romantic situation involving this saint, the link only started to surface by the 14th century.
The day that valentine actually relates to is a Roman Pagan celebration called Lupercalia festival this occurred between the 13th and 15th of February traditionally.
The festival began with members of an order called Luperci, which was a gathering of Roman priests. The gathering took place at a cave which was said to be the place where the founders of Roman Romulus and Remus were taken care of by a she-wolf.
(The two boys were said to slice the goats hide into strips, dipped into blood and tied to their hands, then they would run through out Rome slapping women gently and touching crops.
The women accepted this because it was said they would become more fertile if touched with the blood).
After they had gathered they would sacrifice a goat which symbolised fertility and a dog to purify.
To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at the sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would then sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification.
Legends also say that all the young women of Rome would place their names in an urn. They would then give the urn to the bachelors of the city to pick a name, and they would pair up with the lady for one year, it is said these pairings at times ended in marriage.
In 498 AD Pope Gelasius I made St Valenitines official om Feburary 14. Later on its was out lawed by 1969 by Pope Paul VI, because this type of pairing was seen as unchristian. Although the event is still kept traditionally.
There are a number of different tales about the Origination of Valentines day but as a believer this day should not be observed as, Saint valentine himself would never have wanted a believer to remember it and forget the Messiah and the YHWH as a results
***Interesting facts ***
In America the exchanging of Valentines cards began in the 1700′s and Esther A Howland in 1840 was the first to start making mass produced cards.
The Greeting Cards Association has given the estimate of one billion cards being sent every year, so this means that the amount of cards sold on Valentines day are second only to Christmas cards. Which is estimated at 2.6 billion.
The bibles take on the Origination of Valentines day in a nutshell is, there is NO! valentines. Valentines day all seems so harmless if you are doing it for love and you feel like you are remembering the patron Saint Valentine.
But if you follow the bible and you are not remembering feast days….
Such as the Destructin of Nicanor, or Purim which both incidentally come around about the same time as the origination of Valentines day you are doing the Patron saint a disservice, as he would certainly have wanted you to keep the commandments of YHWH, instead of tradition as the Messiah said
Mark 7:9
9And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
So let us not be guilty of this.
Peace for true keepers of the faith
