Should we be showing our love for others based on pagan holidays, our emotions, and our feelings? Isn’t love just love? Let’s look into the origins of Valentine’s Day and why we don’t celebrate.
- Lupercalia was a fertility festival to Faunus, Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.
- Beginning the festival, members of Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where infants Romulus and Remus were believed to be cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. They sacrificed a goat for fertility and a dog for purification. They stripped the goats hide and dipped into sacrificial blood to take to the streets slapping women and crop fields. The roman women welcomed the touch of hides because it was believed to make them fertile.
- Lupercalia encouraged abominable traditions – orgies, fornication, nakedness, and drunkenness. This tradition persisted up to the time of Julius Caesar where the Master of Luperci College of Priest during that period was Mark Anthony.
- The Romans celebrated to honor Juno Fructifer, Februata Queen of the Roman gods.
- Young women would place their names in a big urn and the city’s bachelors would choose a name to be paired for erotica for the festival or longer if a match and often ended in marriage.
Connections to Arcadian Lykaia. Pan is the Greek god version of Faunus, with the head and torso of a man, hindquarters and horns of a goat. (Anyone watched Peter Pan or Chronicles of Narnia?) This can be traced back to the sun god, Ba’al to Nimrod.
- Caludius II banned marriages because of the ban on married men joining the army. Valentine was secretely marrying Christian couples. During the 1st & 2nd century, the Christian or Catholic religion started to grow. Much of the pagan cultures and traditions were assimilated and reinvented to fit the Catholic tradition. It attracted early pagans to become Christians. In 496 AD, then Pope Gelasius declared the Lupercalia traditions particularily the love lottery as immoral.
- The Pope changed the love lottery tradition into a saint lottery where each young boy tries to mimic the qualities of the saint he picks all throughout the year. Pope Gelasius also declared February 14 as the feast of Saint Valentine, the patron of lovers.
- Red Rose – Venus, Roman goddess of love and beauty, the equivalent of Aphrodite. She is the mother of cupid. Her favorite flower was the red rose which associated the rose with love.
- Cupid – He’s often portrayed as a naked cherub launching arrows of love at unsuspecting lovers. But the Roman god Cupid has roots in Greek mythology, the god of love, Eros. Some say he’s the son of Nyx and Erebus others of Aphrodite and Ares, Mercury and Venus, others Iris and Zephryus or Aphrodite and Zeus (father and grandfather)
- Historians have found relics resembling the modern heart symbol that date as far back as 3000BC. But these early instances – etched into Grecian, Minoan, Cretian, Mycean, and Roman pottery – were actually representations of ivy or fig leaves, and had no connection with the human heart, or the idea of love.
- In ancient Greece, for instance, the symbol was often used to portray a vine leaf, which harkened to Dionysus, the god of fine. Wreaths featuring these symbols were commonly worn by priests during festivals and feasts.
- In Etruscan art (4th century BC Italy) these ivy leaves symbolized procreation, fidelity, and rebirth and often presented during wedding ceremonies.
- In the 2nd century BC, Buddhists began inscribing the symbol as a depiction of the fig leave, to them representing enlightenment.
- During the 2nd century in the city of Cyrene, the symbol illustrated silphium, a plant used in ancient times as birth control. The trade of this plant was incredibly lucrative in Cyrene and printed on coins.
- Ancient authors often wrote about silphium and considered it an effective means of birth control.
- To the Romans, silphium was used in much the same way morning after pills are today. Considering how infamously promiscuous the ancient Romans were, it’s little wonder they placed such value on the plant.
- We know that Yahuah created all things as well as shapes inside of nature.
- Because the pagans used roses, ivy leaves, and heart and star shapes in their worship doesn’t make them bad at all.
- We are only pointing out the perversion of the symbols and also sharing why we don’t associate with a certain day to show our love.
- We need to focus on what is truly Scriptural love of Yahuah and loving our neighbor. This is defined in Scripture.
- It’s always good to show others we care by sending them a letter or a gift, telling them you care, giving a compliment, cooking them a meal, or simply giving them your time. We do not need to celebrate them on an abominable feast to do that.
Resources:
Link to Instagram Rooted in Truth Families post for sharing
History
Learn Religions
World religions
Wikipedia on Venus
Priceonomics
Grunge
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