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Valentine's Day
The Pagan Origins of Valentine's Day
by Austin
Cline
Many
consider Valentine's Day to be Christian holiday. After all, it is named after
a Christian saint.
But
when we consider the matter more closely, the pagan connections to the
date appear much stronger than the Christian ones.
Juno Fructifier or Juno Februata
The Romans
celebrated a holiday on February 14th to honor Juno Fructifier, Queen of the
Roman gods and goddesses.
In
one ritual, women would submit their names to a common box and men would each
draw one out.
These
two would be a couple for the duration of the festival (and at times for the
entire following year). Both rituals were designed to promote
fertility.
Feast of Lupercalia
On February 15,
Romans celebrated Lupercalia, honoring Faunus, god of fertility.
Men
would go to a grotto dedicated to Lupercal, the wolf god, located at the foot
of Palatine Hill and where Romans believed that the founders of Rome, Romulus
and Remus, were suckled by a she-wolf.
The
men would sacrifice a goat, don its skin, and run around, hitting women with
small whips in an act which was believed to promote fertility.
St. Valentine, Christian Priest
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 (only single men had to
enter the army).
A
Christian priest named Valentinus was caught performing secret marriages and
sentenced to death.
While
awaiting execution, he was visited by young lovers with notes about how much
better love is than war. Some think of these love letters as the first
valentines.
Valentinus's execution
occurred on February 14th in the year 269 C.E.
St. Valentine, Second and Third
Another Valentinus
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
was eventually beheaded and buried on the Via Flaminia. Pope Julius I
reportedly built a basilica over his grave.
Christianity Takes Over Valentine's Day
In 469, Pope
Gelasius declared February 14th a holy day in honor of Valentinus, instead of
the pagan god Lupercus.
He
also adapted some of the pagan celebrations of love to reflect Christian
beliefs.
For
example, as part of the Juno Februata ritual, instead of pulling girls
names from boxes, both boys and girls chose the names of martyred saints from a
box.
Valentine's Day Turns to Love
It wasn't until the
Renaissance of the 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.
An
increasing number of poets and authors connected the dawning of Spring
with love, sexuality, and procreation.
Valentine's Day as a Commercial Holiday
Valentine's Day is
no longer part of the official liturgical calendar of any Christian church; it
was dropped from the Catholic calendar in 1969.
Its
not a feast, a celebration, or a memorial of any martyrs.
The
return to more pagan-inspired celebrations of February 14th is not surprising,
nor is the overall commercialization of the day, which is now part of a
billion dollar industry.
Millions
of people all over the world celebrate Valentines Day in some fashion, but few
do so as part of their faith.
Austin Cline
Former regional director for the Council
for Secular Humanism and a publicity coordinator for the Center for
Inquiry on
Campus
· He lectures extensively on religion, religious violence, science, and
skepticism
· Master of Arts from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Arts from
the University of Pennsylvania
Experience
Austin Cline is a former writer for ThoughtCo,
contributing articles about atheism, agnosticism, and secular humanism for 18
years. Cline was a regional director for the Council for Secular Humanism. He
also acted as a publicity coordinator for the Center for
Inquiry On Campus, formerly the Campus Freethought Alliance. Cline
lectures on religion, religious violence, science, and skepticism. Cline
studied theology and philosophy in America, Germany, and in Switzerland.
Education
Austin Cline holds a Bachelor of Arts from the
University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Arts from Princeton University. He
also studied for one year each at the University of Zurich and the
Ludwig-Maximillian University in Munich, Germany.
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