What may have once started as a day of death, nudity, and flogging
has since turned into a day of cards, flowers and chocolate. The Valentine’s
Day we know has changed very much from its humble pagan origins, yet it still
symbolizes a day of love and fertility.
“The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints
named Valentine or Vaintinus, all of whom were martyred.” (History.com) My
favorite is of a Valentine who defies emperor Claudius II by marrying young men
even though the emperor outlawed it to have better soldiers. When the emperor
got word of this he had Valentine beheaded.
This made way for the Christians to cover up the pagan tradition
of Lupercalia. Lupercalia was a pagan festival traditionally celebrated on
February 15 in which the young Roman men ran around naked, and flogged the
women with blood drenched goat hides to aid fertility. At the end of the night
of the festival the names of all the young women would get placed in an urn to
be randomly chosen by an eligible bachelor that she would be matched with for
the next year.
Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day at the end
of the 5th century, and in doing so outlawed Lupercalia. (History.com)
Valentine never knew the impact of his actions, but his death
marked the turn of Christianity over paganism. He brought an entire festival to
a screeching halt, and holiday dedicated just for him in celebration of his work.
St. Valentine paved the way for our holiday of love and flowers, yet we should
never forget the humble beginnings of Lupercalia,
the pagan fertility festival. Most people would agree that the cards, flowers
and chocolate of our modern Valentine’s Day is much preferable to being flogged
with bloody goat hides for fertility.
“History of Valentine’s Day.” HISTORY, https://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day-2. Accessed 11 Feb.
2020.
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