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VALENTINE'S
DAV
Pagan Practice
or Christian Custom?
"Wi/1 you be my Valentina?" That question is asked by
millions about this time of year. Why? ls there any religious
significance to February 14? Read the surprising answers
tn
this historically documentad article.
by
Herman
L.
Hoeh
W
HERE DID
St. Valentine's Day
come from?
You might suppose school
teachers and educators would know. But
do they?
How many of you were ever taught
the real origin of Valentine's Day -
were ever told in school
why
you should
observe the custom of exchanging
valentines?
The Silence of Educators
Teachers are all too often silent about
the origin of the customs they are
forced to teach in today's schools.
If
they were to speak out, many would
lose their jobs!
Today, candymakers unload tons of
heart-shaped red boxes for February 14,
while millions of the younger set
exchange valentines. Florists consider
February 14 - St. Valentine's Day -
as one of their best business days. And
young lovers pair off - at least for a
dance or two - at St. Valentine's balls.
Why? Where did these customs orig–
inate? How did we come to inherit
these customs? Isn't it time we exam–
ined why we encourage our children to
celebrate St. Valentine's Day?
A
Christian Custom?
Many have assumed that the tradi–
tional Valentinc's Day celebrations are
all in connection with an early Christian
martyr by the name of Valentine.
Nothing could be further from the
truth!
Notice what one authoritative
encyclopedia says about this idea: "St.
Valentine's Day as a lovers' festival, the
choice of a valentine, and the modern
development of sending valentine cards
has no relation to the saint or to any
incident in his life" (article, "Valen–
tine, Saint,"
Encyclopaedia Brilannica,
1970 edition).
Did you know that centuries before
the birth of Jesus, the pagan Romans
celebrated February 15 and the evening
of February 14 as an idolatrous and
sensuous festival in honor of Lupercus,
the "hunter of wolves"?
The Romans called the festival the
"Lupercalia." The custom of exchang–
ing valentines and all the other tradi–
tions in honor of Lupercus - the
deified hero-hunter of Rome - was
also linked anciently with the pagan
practice of teen-agers "going steady."
It
usually led to fornication.
Today, the custom of "going steady"
is thought very modern.
1t
isn't. It is
merely a rebirth of an old custom
"handed clown from the Roman festival
of the Lupercalia, celebrated in the
month of February, when names of
young women were put into a box and
drawn out by men as chance directed."
That's the admission of the
Encyc/o–
pedia Americana.
artide, "St. Valen–
tine's Day."
The
Eucyrlopaedia Britannica
also
points out that the custom of exchang–
ing valentines arose from this "name
drawing" during the Lupercalia. The
"custom was introduced to England by
the Romans and continued through the
Christian era. In order to adapt the
practice to Christianity the church trans–
ferred it to the feast of St. Valentine"
( article "Greeting Card").
When Constantine in A.D. 313 made
Christianity an official religion of the
Roman Empire, there was sorne talk in
church circles of discarding this pagan
free-for-all. But the Roman citizens