Valentine's Day

Have you already gave a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolate to your girlfriend or wife? If you are a girl have you received a gift from your lover today? If you are single, do you ever feel jealous seeing a lot of couples being lovey-dovey, perhaps you feel sick after seeing all those sweetness that is rampant in social media today.

Today, millions of people around the world are considering this day as a very special day. It is the time to show and express how much they love a special someone through giving out chocolates, flowers, gifts and preparing extravagant surprises. And for others giving a simple letter or card is enough to express their love.

If you are thinking about Valentine's Day, then you are right.

Yes' the 14th day of February is one of the most awaited day of romantics all over the world. It is the best day to say and express the word "I Love You." 

But how did February 14th started to be celebrated as Valentine's Day? In this article, lets find out how.

Before we discuss how the celebration of Valentine's Day started, let us discuss first what happened a lot of centuries ago. The early Greeks who are known for worshiping many gods and goddesses, believed in their god named Pan. They believed that Pan is the god of shepherds and their flocks. According to the Greek's myths, Pan was born with a fully grown look, he has a beard, horns and the tale and feet of a goat. They have drawn pictures of this god, and he was depicted as a sensual, curvaceous, sexually attractive dancing creature. When the Roman Empire arise, the Roman demon god Faunus, which is also called or known as Lupercus, adopted Pan.  Lupercus' wife who has a she-wolf form, Luperca, is supposed to nurse the two builders and founders of the ancient Rome city, Remus and Romulus.

There are also priests called Luperci, they are clothed in a goatskin, and they served Lupercus in his temple. In the middle of the month of February, these Luperci's went on and struck a lot of women with their goatskin thongs. They claimed that such an act will promote fertility. After this, a spring love festival was created and the celebration of the festival included a lottery where young women are given out to men. The young women's names are put in a box, shaken, and it is being drawn by men. This went celebration went on for centuries.

Then something happened in the year 270 CE, on February 14 that year, Valentine, a young Roman lad was beaten up and later on beheaded because he won't declare himself leaving Christianity. But before he died, he left a note to a little girl who befriended him, it was the daughter of the jailer who had a charge over him. On the note, there is a sign "From your Valentine." Centuries passed, for a long time, that sign only means friendship. But it got a new meaning around 1400. 

Catholicism rose up and took control over Rome, but the Catholic Church absorbed the pre-Christian festivals of Greece and Rome, and it includes the spring love feast of Pan. To cover up its pagan origin, the Catholic Church named their feast as St. Valentine's Day. Aside from having a different name, they made the festival more interesting by adding some entertaining features. The previous game where women are given out to men through a draw was enlarged. Now girls are allowed to draw out men's names and the chosen man or boy will be her valentine for a year depending on her preference.

The god of fertility which they call Cupid, in the form of a blindfolded little boy and has a wing, a bow and an arrow was also introduced during the celebration of the festival. In the medieval ages, they celebrate valentine's eve and Valentine's Day with the same flirtatious and sensual way which is how the pagan festival is celebrated, but in the late centuries, to cover up the mythological origin, giving out cards with sentimental verses is introduced.

The World Book Encyclopedia gives further information and theories with regard to the origin or start of the practices during Valentine's Day. 

“According to one story, the Roman Emperor Claudius II in the A.D. 200’s forbade young men to marry. The emperor thought single men made better soldiers. A priest named Valentine disobeyed the emperor’s order and secretly married young couples. . . . Many stories say that Valentine was executed on February 14 about A.D. 269. In A.D. 496, Saint Pope Gelasius I named February 14 as St. Valentine’s Day.”

Regardless of how the practices during Valentine's Day all started, what is clear is that it originated from paganism and as a Christian, I learned in my further studies of the bible that it is not right to celebrate or even take part in the celebration of Valentine's Day.

I don't intend to celebrate this occasion not because I am a killjoy, not because I don't have the money to buy gifts to my loved ones and not because I don't love anyone. In the bible, John 4:8 says "God is love". Clearly it is not any mythological gods or goddesses. But the almighty father in heaven. 

I don't condemn those who celebrates or want to take part in the celebration of Valentine's Day, but isn't it better to express our love to our loved ones every day?

We all deserved to be loved, appreciated and remembered every day of our lives and not just because of some pagan occasions.