Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
Even though this 'day of love' as it’s called in modern times; has most couples rushing to make each other happy with flowers, gifts and candies; the history of Valentine's Day is rather wicked and pagan. Most people picture a romantic St. Valentine who wrote the first love poems for his beloved and made the day famous in his name when he died. But that is absolutely deception.
The origin of Valentine's Day is associated with the wicked Lupercalia festival. The date of February 14 was fixed as the date for St Valentine's feast day as an attempt to 'Christianise' the pagan fertility festival, dedicated to the Roman god of agriculture Eros, and the founders of Rome -- Romulus and Remus.
The Lupercalia festival was celebrated from February 13 to 15; the members of the order of Roman priests called 'Luperci' assembled in the sacred cave where Romulus and Remus were supposed to have been taken care of by the she-wolf. The priests would then sacrifice a dog for purification and a goat for sexuality or fertility. The goat hide would then be cut into strips, sipped into sacrificial blood, and taken by half-naked men running through the streets to slap women and crops in the fields with the belief to improve their fertility; the women welcomed this act as per the beliefs of the time and actually lined up for the same.
During Lupercalia, the men randomly chose a woman’s name from a jar to be coupled with them for the duration of the festival. Often, the couple stayed together until the following year’s festival. Many fell in love and married. Over time, nakedness during Lupercalia lost popularity. The festival became more chaste, and women were whipped on their hands by fully-clothed men.
Romulus and Remus
According to Roman legend, the ancient King Amulius ordered Romulus and Remus his twin nephews and founders of Rome to be thrown into the Tiber River to drown in retribution for their mother’s broken vow of celibacy.
A servant took pity on them, however, and placed them inside a basket on the river instead. It’s believed that the river-god carried the basket and the brothers down the river to a wild fig tree where it became caught in the branches. The brothers were then rescued and cared for by a she-wolf in a den at the base of Palatine Hill where Rome was founded.
The twins were later adopted by a shepherd and his wife and learned their father’s trade. After killing the uncle who had ordered their death, they found the cave den of the she-wolf which had nurtured them and named it Lupercal. It’s thought that ‘’Lupercalia took place to honour the she-wolf and to please the Roman fertility god Lupercus’’.
Saint Valentine
There are several legends surrounding the life of Saint Valentine. The most common is that on one February 14 during the 3rd century A.D., a man named Valentine was executed by the Roman Emperor Claudius II after being imprisoned for assisting persecuted Christians and secretly marrying Christian couples in love. During Valentine’s imprisonment he tried converting Claudius to Christianity, Claudius then became enraged and ordered Valentine to reject his faith or be killed. He refused to forsake his faith and so Valentine was beheaded.
During Valentine’s imprisonment, he tutored a girl named Julia, the blind daughter of his jailer after which he fell in love with her. The legend states that God restored Julia’s sight after she and Valentine prayed together. He exchanged many secret love notes with her that were signed off with- “From Your Valentine”.
From Lupercalia to Valentine’s Day
In 469, Pope Gelasius declared February 14th a holy day in honour of Valentinus, instead of the pagan god Lupercus. He also adapted some of the pagan celebrations of love to reflect Christian beliefs. For example, as part of the Juno Februata ritual, instead of pulling girls names from boxes, both boys and girls chose the names of martyred saints from a box.
It wasn't until the Renaissance of the 14th century that customs returned to celebrations of love and life rather than faith and death. People began to break free of some of the bonds imposed upon them by the Church and move towards a humanistic view of nature, society, and the individual. An increasing number of poets and authors connected the dawning of Spring with love, sexuality, and procreation.
Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”–at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance. The English poet Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to record St. Valentine’s Day as a day of romantic celebration in his 1375 poem “Parliament of Fouls,” writing, “For this was sent on St Valentine’s day When every foul cometh there to choose his mate.”
Who Is Cupid?
Cupid is often portrayed on Valentine’s Day cards as a naked cherub launching arrows of love at unsuspecting lovers piercing through their hearts. The Roman god Cupid has his roots in Greek mythology as the Greek god of love, Eros; the same Babylonian god of fertility Tammuz. Eros was believed to be a handsome immortal who played with the emotions of gods and women, using golden arrows to incite love and leaden ones to sow repugnance. It wasn’t until the Hellenistic period that he began to be portrayed as the naughty, chubby two winged child on Valentine’s Day cards.
Why Black and Red Colours worn on Valentine?
Since Valentine’s Day is a day for celebrating the goddess of fertility and sex, the red colour used during celebration represents sexuality and incitement of emotions, it’s associated with the pagan god cupid piercing and beating hearts with arrows as portrayed in the early paintings. Red is an obvious symbol of lust; and on the other hand it symbolises bloodshed. Black symbolises death and darkness, therefore it speaks about doom. In modern days; people around the world are excited to celebrate the valentine, dressing red and black in respect of love not knowing that they are identifying themselves with wickedness, adultery, fornication and all sexual perversion. It’s a day when the wicked spirit of Jezebel or Lust and perversion become associate freely in the lives of the people.
Valentine is the official day for celebrating lust among the heathens, it does not belong to God’s people; neither should it be once heard nor mentioned among them. God forbids such wicked practices and I command in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ those Christians who were celebrating it to STOP immediately. This day you are freed from such evil entanglements and I declare that be freed forever more. The spirit of perversion and lust shall not reign over your life again because you have put on Christ and you are dead to the wildly works. You are not looking for lovers but you are married to Christ and contented with Him alone.
Let’s keep ourselves pure fellow Christians from the pollutions and corruptions of this evil world. The Lord Jesus Christ who saved us is soon coming back to take us up in glory. Please lets be patient in well doing in all purity and righteousness obeying all the word of the Lord; for with it you shall be preserved and presented a perfect man blameless without any spot or wrinkle.
Now may the God of peace bless you all and add His grace upon you until He comes; AMEN.
‘’Awakening The Sleeping Bride’’
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