Valentine’s Day
As we come up the Holiday that celebrates love for each other, let us not forget the ultimate love that has been given to us freely. Some passages in the Bible that show us this are: Psalms 136:2, John 3:16, 1 John 4:10.
The original Valentines Day, February 14th, was to honor Juno, who was believed to be the Queen of the Roman gods and goddesses. On February 15th the Feast of Lupercalia started. During this time period the teen boys and girls were kept separate. On 14th of February they practiced a custom called Drawing. All the Roman girls names were written on a slip of paper an the young men would draw out a name. That couple would then be together throughout the festival. Sometimes, the couple would chose to be together for the whole year, and some even married.
When Claudius II became Emperor of Rome the country became involved in multiple bloody wars. Claudius was having a problem of getting men to join his army, since only single men were forced to go into the army. Claudius decided to cancel all engagements and marriages.
A Roman priest by the name of Valentine with another priest named Marius, joined together in aiding the Christians, when they desired to secretly marry each other. Valentine was caught and placed in jail under a death sentence. While in jail, people would visit and give Valentine cards and flowers to encourage him. During this time he became close friends with the jailer’s daughter. On February 14, 1269 A.D. his time came to be executed. He left her a note and signed it “From your Valentine”. In 469 when Emperor Gelasius declared that February 14th a holy day to honor Valentine and other saints in place of Lupercus. Instead of pulling girls names out of a box they would pull out martyred saints, and reflect on them. Not until the Renaissance of the 14th century did the customs return to celebrating love and life, rather than faith over and death.
