In the face of the secular holiday of Valentine’s day, the so called ‘holiday of love’, it is paramount that as believers we look into the origins of the holiday because it is not biblical.
The celebration of Valentine’s day can be traced back about 300 years before the birth of the Messiah. The people that celebrated this feast were the Romans who celebrated it during the month of February. Back then the name of the holiday was known as Lupercalia and Juno Februata. We know that the Gregorian calendar is a Roman calendar that was introduced in the year 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, therefore most, if not all of the holidays are of roman origin and have a pagan nature.
The name February comes from the word februa which means purification. So the festival of Lupercalia was all about purification and fertility during the Spring time. The festival was celebrated in honor of the god Lupercus who was the god of fertility and husbandry, protector of herds and crops and a mighty hunter especially of wolves. The Luperci (male priests) assisted by virgins would sacrifice a goat and a dog on a cave on the Palatine Hill in Rome. Romans believed that the twins that found Rome, Remus and Romulus were nursed by a she-wolf on the palatine hill before eventually founding Rome.
Using the blood of the goat and dog, the male priests (Luperci) would run while wearing loincloths from the sacrificed and goats and would strike the women with flogging from the sacrificed goats. They believed by that, the women would become purified and ease pain during child birth.
The month of February was also sacred to Juno Februata, the goddess of fever of love, women and marriage. On the 14th of February, names of teenage girls would be written on them and teenage boys would pick a paper each. The name that the person picked would become their couple for the rest of the year. The two would engage in sexual immorality and all sort of licentious behavior.
In 325 AD, Constantine made Christianity the official religion in Rome, afterwards in 494 AD Pope Gelasius renamed the feast of Juno Februata to ”The Feast of Purification of The Virgin Mary”. There have been conceited efforts by the Roman Catholic Church to honor three Saint Valentines who they regard as martyrs to be honored on the 14th of February. St Valentine’s day celebration would later be romanticized by Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare in their work. It managed to be commercialized through the exchange of gifts and cards and therefore it grew world prominence. The RCC attempted and managed to yet Christianize another Pagan holiday thereby fooling millions of people.
The name Valentine comes from the Latin word ‘Valens’ which means powerful, mighty and strong. The Bible describes such a man: “And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD” (Genesis 10:8-9). Nimrod was said to hunt with a bow and arrow hence the character that is seed with bow and arrow known as Cupid which means ‘to desire’. In Roman mythology is the son of the goddess Venus, who is the goddess of beauty and love.
Nimrod was the originator of false worship and from him it spread to other nations. To the Greeks he was known as Pan, to the Phoenicians he was known as Ba’al, to the Egyptians he was known as Osiris. Therefore the real valentine is none other than the mighty hunter, nimrod.
The prohibition against Paganism by the Holy One of Israel still reminds us in the scriptures that we cannot drink the cup of Elohim with that of idols too (1 Corinthians 10:21). We are instructed not to learn the ways of the heathens (Jeremiah 10:2).
Leviticus 18:2-3 - Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes.
Valentine’s day celebration originates from ancient paganism. The festival appeals to men because they are evil and they are attracted to carnal desires which the scriptures refer as ‘works of the flesh.’ We are warned to have nothing to do with them for those who practice such will not inherit the kingdom.
Galatians 5:16-19, 21 - But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
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