Valentine’s Day: A Pagan Holiday

 

   Love, such a simple word yet it held so many meaning. On the month of February, we celebrate love and affection, we celebrate Valentine’s Day also called as the Feast of Saint Valentine, on the fourteenth. This day is not only for couples, but also for families and friends, where they take time to hang out and express their love and adoration for one another, be it by gifting gifts and greeting cards, going out on a date, simply hanging out or by saying those simple words “I Love You”. As we all know love is universal, anyone can be in love, experience love, be loved. No matter what other people say, everyone deserves to feel love even though the society have deemed that to be wrong. But we are slowly becoming more open and acceptable so who really cares now.

   The origin of Valentine’s Day goes way back in the early Christian church of Ancient Rome. But it did not exactly start from giving chocolates, roses and letters. Instead there was the Ancient Roman Festival of the Lupercalia in honour of both the agricultural god Luperca and the she-wolf who suckled Romulus and Remus, Lupus. Lupercalia is celebrated in the mid-February, starting in the 13^th to the 15^th , this is a festivity carried out in the same cave annually. A ritual is carried out, where animals were sacrificed and offered to the Gods in exchange for the forgiveness of the violent acts of the founders of the city. At the beginning and end of Lupercalia, women were whipped which was thought to increase their chances of getting pregnant. It was also said that young men and women who are not married, were paired off during the Luepercalia and this had established the romantic connection which carried on through Valentine’s Day.

   As we progress into a more civilized society, the celebration of Valentine’s Day have evolved. The symbol for Valentine’s Day, the Heart and the Winged Cupid, came from Rome. Cupid is the son of the Messenger God Mercury, and the Goddess of Love, Venus. He was envisioned as a baby who had wings with a bow whose arrows would inspire love into anyone it struck. In the early 18^th century CE the Christians have recognized the Pagan Cupid as a Christian Angel and by the 19^th century CE, Cupid’s face can be seen in Greeting Cards.

   Now, the Valentine’s Day is one of the most notable holiday celebrated. It may take on many forms but it carries out the same message, which is to spread love and affection. But we have to keep in mind that Valentine’s Day should not be the only time people show affection and love because every day can be an opportunity to show somebody that they are loved. Just like youJ.

Image retrieved at:

https://mymodernmet.com/art-history-of-cupid/2/

http://drheatherlynn.blogspot.com/2013/02/happy-lupercalia-as-with-many-modern.html