Valentine's Day

VALENTINE’S DAY
-Celebration of Love or Hallmark Holiday?-

The Origins of Valentine’s Day

1. In Roman mythology, the eventual founders of Rome were a pair of previously orphaned brothers who were cared for in a cave by a she-wolf (lupa) and later by a shepherd (Lupercus) and his wife. A mid-February Roman festival called Lupercalia developed and was linked to increases in health and fertility.

2. Pope Gelasius abolished Lupercalia in AD 496 and may have attempted to replace it with a February 14th commemoration of the martyred Saint Valentine. Actually, the Pope seems to have had 2 or even 3 different Valentine’s in mind, but very little is known about the men themselves except for their willingness to die.

3. We have no clear link between Saint Valentine’s Day and romance until the 14th century (by this time a distinction b/w the different Valentine’s had been lost). Many attribute the romantic aspect to a poem by the famous author Geoffrey Chaucer in which he mentioned birds finding mates on Valentine’s Day.

4. By the 18th century, Valentine’s cards were popular in Britain. Esther Howland mass-produced Valentine’s cards in America in the mid-19th century. Gift exchange was not common on Valentine’s Day until the 2nd half of the 20th century.

Summary Statement
Valentine’s Day, as it exists (a celebration of romantic love), has no real connection to Christian history (who is thinking of martyrdom on February 14th?).

A- Adapt to Valentine’s Day
Share in the celebration of romantic love




B- Boycott Valentine’s Day
Ignore it b/c it isn’t Christian or b/c it is materialistic



C- Cultivate Valentine’s Day

Option 1: Use it to speak of pure romantic love



Option 2: Use it to speak of general Christian love



Option 3: Put the focus back on martyrdom





Next week: Ash-Wednesday (February 17th)/Lent