Is it not somewhat ironic that Valentine’s Day was
originally a Christian holiday named for a saint? Especially when you consider the fact that
Christianity has never been strongly associated with promoting romance or even
love, for that matter. All the more
ironic when you learn that the true origins of Valentine's Day has nothing to
do with a Christian saint, but everything to do with kinky Pagan sex rituals!
There remains much debate and disagreement among scholars on
the origins of Valentine’s Day. They may
never be able to disentangle all of the cultural and religious threads in order
to reconstruct a complete and coherent story, but it is clear that the Pagan
connections to the date are much stronger than the Christian ones.
Lupercalia
– A Pagan Festival in February
While some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the
middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of said Saint’s death or
burial, (which likely occurred A.D. 269) others claim that the Christian church
may have intentionally placed St. Valentine's feast day in the middle of
February in an effort to Christianize the Pagan celebration of Lupercalia – a
practice which of course has been known to be common with most other Christian
holidays.
In ancient Rome, Lupercalia was a Roman fertility and
purification festival that occurred each year in mid-February. It was dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of
agriculture, as well as a celebration of the founders of Rome, Romulus and
Remus – two brothers who were said to have been raised by wolves – and of the
she-wolf, or lupa, who raised them.
No one knows for certain exactly when the festival of
Lupercalia first began, but most believe it was named after the God Lupercus,
who was the protector of flocks against wolves. Records indicate that the festival was held
each year on February 15th where members of the Luperci – an order
of Roman priests – priests would gather in a cave near the fig tree where the lupa
had suckled Romulus and Remus. Vestal
Virgins brought sacred cakes made from the first ears of last year's grain
harvest to the fig tree.
It was there that two naked young men of noble birth would assist
the Vestal Virgins, in sacrificing a dog and a goat – which represented
strength, purification, and fertility. The blood was smeared on the foreheads of the
young men and then wiped away with wool dipped in milk. Feasting with meat and wine then followed.
The young men donned loincloths made from the
skin of the slain goat and led groups of priests around the sacred boundary of
the ancient city and around the base of the hills of Rome. Considered a happy and festive occasion, the
young men would run about the city, lightly striking women they passed along
the way with strips of the goat hide, called februa. (And it
is from these implements of purification that the month of February gets its
name!) This act supposedly provided
purification from curses and bad luck, and more importantly, promoted
fertility.
The 14th of February – a holiday devoted to Juno,
Queen of the Gods, and patroness of marriage – was the day specially set aside
for love lotteries in Pagan Rome. According
to legend, after those festivities, all the young women in the city would place
their names in a big urn. The eligible
bachelors would each choose a name of the woman for the year who was to be his
lover for the year. These arbitrary
pairings often ended in lasting relationships and marriage. Later, in an effort to subvert the lusty Pagan
practice, the Catholic Church substituted the names of dead saints for the
young men to draw in place of flesh-and-blood females.
Archaeological evidence suggests that the Lupercalia, far
from being restricted to Rome, was practiced in other cities in Italy and Gaul.
When the Roman armies invaded France and
Britain, they brought the festival of Lupercalia and all its customs along with
them.
Though Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity,
it was outlawed – as it was deemed “un-Christian” – at the end of the 5th
century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14th St. Valentine's
Day. It was not until much later,
however, that the day became once again definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly
believed in France and England that February 14th was the beginning
of birds' mating season, encouraging the idea that day should be deemed a day
for romance.
So then, who was Saint Valentine?
Dating from remotest antiquity, Lupercalia was celebrated
until as late as the reign of Anastasius I in 491-518 CE. It was towards the end of the 5th century in
498 CE that Pope Gelasius decided to dedicate the Eve of Lupercalia to the
long-dead priest. The lottery system was
banned as being un-Christian and the Pope did his best to make people forget
about other un-Christian ideas such as fertility.
According to one story, Roman emperor Claudius II imposed a
ban on marriages because too many young men were dodging the draft by getting
married. A Christian priest named
Valentinus was caught performing secret marriages and sentenced to death. While awaiting execution, young lovers visited
him with notes about how much better love is than war — the first “valentines.”
His execution occurred in 269 CE on
February 14th.
There was another Valentinus who was a priest jailed for
helping Christians. During his stay he
fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and sent her notes signed “from your Valentine.” He too, was eventually beheaded and buried on
the Via Flaminia. Reportedly Pope Julius
I built a basilica over his grave.
And
then, there was yet a third, and final Valentinius! He was the bishop of Terni and he was also
martyred, with his relics being taken back to Terni.
Pope Gregory the 1st said, "Converting heathens is
easier if they are allowed to retain the outward forms of their traditional
Pagan practices and traditions, while recasting those traditions spiritually
towards the one true God instead of to their Pagan devils." Thus, like the Church would do with Yule,
Ostara, and other Pagan celebrations, it changed Lupercalia to St. Valentine's
Day.
In 469 AD, emperor Gelasius declared February 14th
a holy day in honor of Valentinus instead of the pagan god Lupercus. This allowed Christianity to take over some of
the celebrations of love and fertility which had previously occurred in the
context of paganism. Pagan celebrations
were reworked to fit the martyr theme – Christianity did not approve of rituals
that encouraged sexuality.
In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius did away with the festival of
Lupercalia, citing that it was Pagan and immoral.
As with so many other holidays that have pagan roots,
divination came to play an important role in the development of modern
Valentine’s Day. People looked to all
sorts of things, primarily in nature, in order to find some sign about who
might become their One True Love. There
were also, of course, things which later came to be used to induce love or
lust.
During the medieval period, the Valentine lottery returned
as a means of coupling singles and was extremely popular. The names of maidens and bachelors were put
into a box and drawn out in pairs on February 14th. But, this time, the lottery had a more
chivalrous and romantic twist. The couple exchanged gifts, and the girl became the
man's Valentine for a year; thus, the beginning of the symbolic gestures still
seen today. The man wore his maiden’s
name on his sleeve, and it was his duty to attend to and protect her.
Still, it was not until the Renaissance of 14th century that
customs returned to celebrations of love and life rather than faith and
death. People began to break free of
some of the bonds imposed upon them by the Church and move towards a humanistic
view of nature, society, and the individual.
Moving towards more sensual art and literature, there was no shortage of
poets and authors connecting the dawning of Spring with love, sexuality, and
procreation.
After having been dropped from the Catholic calendar in 1969,
Valentine’s Day now is no longer part of the official liturgical calendar of
any Christian church. Millions of people
all over the world celebrate Valentine’s Day in one fashion or another, but
it’s unlikely that even one of them celebrates it in an even remotely religious
manner. Sadly, as with Christmas and
Halloween, the past century has seen an intense commercialization of yet another
Pagan holiday in Valentine’s Day, with hundreds of millions of dollars spent by
those obligated to express their love.
So as an estimated one billion cards* are exchanged
this Valentine's Day, spare a thought for the ancient Pagan custom that the
Catholic Church has tried to hide from you: for Saint Valentine's Day is the Eve
of Lupercalia, the Pagan Roman festival of fertility.
Happy Lupercalia! Happy Valentine's Day!
The following sources provided information:
* Figures according to the Greetings Card Association
Austin Cline, About.com Guide
Dr Leo Ruickbie, Director of WICA.
www.witchology.com
www.cauldronliving.com
© 2013 Rosalind Scarlett
Thanxx for the information ~3*tearz~ out4now
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading and you are most welcome!
ReplyDeleteIt is always my pleasure to provide information to others so that they may be enlightened and live to their fullest.