I testify before God that I became a Valentine Victim years and years ago when I said yes to my husband's proposal on that day. I was caught and have been a victim of love for almost 50 years now. Just goes to show you how God uses everything!
amen, brother! Right on..Every holiday is PAGAN! This includes birthdays, they are also PAGAN! You heretics will BURN FOREVER if you celebrate any of them! REPENT NOW and never celebrate another holiday EVER if you want to make it to Heaven!
*sticks Lynx headfirst into a 6-ft-high Vermont snowbank..*
Really, we had a bumper crop of "Christmas is pagan!" threads just a couple months ago. Can't we give it a rest for a while?
Well as I am single there's really not too much for me to celebrate with Valentine's Day lol. However, I think there might be a good case to be made that it is not a pagan holiday. Plus I enjoy much looking at history. So let us therefore use the day to learn a little more about historical Christianity.
Firstly let's clear the air on the pagan stuff. Indeed there are pagan themes to modern Valentine's Day. That is undeniable. Obviously the most popular is probably the cupid stuff. However from my research that sort of stuff wasn't added in until a few hundred years after Valentine lived and was martyred. Furthermore the pagan festival called lupercalia, which is the most oft cited for being the origin of Valentine's Day, was on February 15th, not the 14th. Furthermore the traditions of that pagan holiday are long gone and there is no semblance to them in Valentine's Day.
Then you have these other customs, I am not so sure if they be called pagan or not. These are like the sale of chocolates and the heart-shaped candies, etc. I think it is obvious these sorts of customs rather than being pagan, are moreso modern additions to the day and are promoted for the sake of making money frankly.
Now let us consider why Valentine's Day was created, along with some of the customs. From my research February 14th is the day the Christian martyr St. Valentine (Valentinius) was beheaded because he healed and converted many pagans and because of his strong belief in Jesus. The custom of it being a day dedicated to couples also has its origins in Valentine's story as he was known to secretly marry couples when the Roman emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage. Interestingly (at least to me) even the Valentine Card originates with this Christian martyr as it is said the last note he wrote was to the daughter of his own jailer that he healed of blindness which was signed "Your Valentine."
Therefore it seems clear to me that Valentine's Day has its origins in Christianity, rather than paganism, and that the pagan motiffs were added on well afterwards.
Frankly, I am not a Catholic, and so therefore do not know much on the saints of the AD and information is very limited on Valentine. I would be very interested in any information that perhaps our Catholic Christian comrades can share. Here is a short video, and probably the best as ever I have found about St. Valentine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQzCiuwDeWM
[video=youtube;KQzCiuwDeWM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQzCiuwDeWM[/video]
Thanks for trying to restore my faith in the LOVE holiday.......it was sketchy there for a while and I blew a gasket....but I'm all better now and...
Be of good cheer. Any day is only what you make of it.