Rank: Mistress of the Forum
Groups: Administration
Joined: 8/27/2005
Posts: 474
Location: Canada
|
Valentine's Day now honors the name of two different 'saints' called Valentine. Though, the holiday & it’s customs have nothing to do with these men.
As with our other calendar holidays, the origins are in Rome.
The Roman origins of Valentine’s Day:
February 14th –
The holy day of Juno Februata, Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses, also known as the Goddess of women and marriage. In honor of Juno, there was a lottery in which the names of all single young girls would be written on pieces of paper and inserted into jars. Each young bachelor would draw a girl’s name from the jar and they were partners throughout the Festival of Lupercalia that started the next day, as well as be their sexual companions for the rest of the year. After being paired, the children would occasionally fall in love and get married. (in Rome, the lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate until this day).
February 15th – there were 2 celebrations on this day:
1 - a Fertility Festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture
2 - The Feast of Lupercalia, ie: “Festival of the Wolf”
(in honor of Romulus & Remus - the founders of Rome - as well as the god Lupercus).
The older way of celebrating this holiday was heavily based on the Roman legend of Romulus and Remus (the twin boys raised by a she-wolf). Priests would meet at the cave where the she-wolf supposedly nursed the twins. Vestal Virgins (women who are not allowed to marry or have children - the mother of the Twins was originally a Vestal Virgin) offer their holy salt cakes. Priests sacrifice a dog for purification and a goat for fertility. The boys then sliced the goat's hide into strips, dipped them in the sacrificial blood and took to the streets, gently slapping both women and fields of crops with the goathide strips. Women welcomed this, because they believed it helped make them more fertile in the coming year.
Later, the festival focused more on honoring the god Lupercus, who was said to watch over the shepherds and their flocks, keeping them safe from the attack of wolves.
These two celebrations continued together long after wolves were a problem to Rome.
Where did Cupid come from?
Originally in Greek mythology, Cupid (named Eros) was thought to have arisen out of Chaos, along with Tartarus and Earth. Later Cupid became known as the son of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Romans adopted many Greek gods, but changed the names of Aphrodite to Venus and her son, Eros to Cupid. In Latin, the language of ancient Rome, the word cupido means desire.
Cupid acted as a messenger for his mother. He would shoot gold tipped arrows & the victim would fall in love.
Changing the name of the pagan celebration:
As with all Roman pagan holidays, as Emperor Constantine made Christianity Rome’s official religion, the church attempted the 'Christianize' the pagan Juno & Lupercalia festivals. To help with this, the priests substituted the drawing of 'Saints' names for the names of the girls. When the young men drew a name of a 'saint' from the jar, the youth was supposed to emulate the life of the saint for the following year.
By the 14th century they reverted back to the use of girl's names. In the 16th century they once again tried to have 'saintly' valentine's but it was again unsuccessful.
In AD 496 Pope Gelasius I officially declared the changed name for the pagan celebrations on February 14th & 15th from Juno Februata & the Feast of Lupercaliaas to one "Valentine's Day".
Which brings us to how the church decided on this new name for the holiday:
Saint Valentine
There is said to have been 7 men named Valentine, all martyred about 200 years before Pope Gelasius made the name change. Only 3 or the supposed 7 are distinguished today. (Though, who knows if the different men have all been compiled into a thses 2 main legends or not…)
1 - Valentine the devout Christian when the religion was not yet embraced - was jailed for helping Christians. While in prison he healed a jailer's daughter of blindness. Emperor Claudius became enraged and had Valentine clubbed to death & beheaded on February 14, 269 A.D. The night before he was executed, he wrote the jailer's daughter a farewell letter, signing it "From Your Valentine."
Or, a variation that says that this Valentine died in prison & devoted friends buried him in the church of St. Praxedes on February 14th, 270 AD.
2- Valentine the bishop of Interamna or a priest in Rome (200 AD) who was imprisoned because he secretly married couples, contrary to the laws of the Roman emperor. (Emperor Claudius banned marriages & cancelled all engagements to help him recruit more soldiers into the Roman army). Some legends say he was burned at the stake.
3- a third Saint Valentine, who suffered in Africa with a number of companions, nothing else is known.
Since the church had tried to change the tradition of drawing girl's names to saint's names & a loved saint was said to be martyred on February 14th, it was a perfect fit for Pope Gelasius I use Saint Valentine's Day as the new name.
Holiday Continuation:
Though the lottery of girl’s names had temporarily been banned & the name of the festival had been changed, the pagan roman men continued to honor the goddess Juno by seeking the affection of women on February 14th.
Even as Rome fell, this pagan tradition of drawing names on February 14th spread across Europe under the title “Valentine’s Day.”
In medieval times, when the boy drew the girl’s name, he wore it on his sleeve for a week & vowed to attend to her & protect her for the next year. They exchanged gifts throughout the year. Later this was changed to only men giving love tokens to women, usually without names but signed "with St. Valentine's Love."
This Roman pagan tradition was brought over to North America with the Europeans and has become more profitable each year.
|
