Bret Hawk
Senator (1k+ posts)
Valentine Day bore its origins in the ancient Pagan festivals of ancient Rome prior to the advent of the divine message of Almighty in that region through the followers of his gigantic Prophet Issa Alihi Rahma Wa-Salam. Historians have named one of those pagan festivals as Lupercalia where the masses use to perform some rituals in order to ward off evil spirits, seeking purification of their places and invocating the blessings of health and fertility for their women from their self conceived gods and goddesses. A famous Greek historian of Roman times Plutarch described some of the rituals of Lupercalia in these words;
Lupercalia, of which many write that it was anciently celebrated by shepherds, and has also some connection with the Arcadian Lycaea. At this time many of the noble youths and of the magistrates run up and down through the city naked, for sport and laughter striking those they meet with shaggy thongs. And many women of rank also purposely get in their way, and like children at school present their hands to be struck, believing that the pregnant will thus be helped in delivery, and the barren to pregnancy
The festival began with the sacrifice by the Luperci (or the flamen dialis) of two male goats and a dog. Next two young patricians Luperci were led to the altar, to be anointed on their foreheads with the sacrificial blood, which was wiped off the bloody knife with wool soaked in milk, after which they were expected to smile and laugh.
The sacrificial feast followed, after which the Luperci cut thongs from the skins of the victims, which were called Februa, dressed themselves in the skins of the sacrificed goats, in imitation of Lupercus, and ran round the walls of the old Palatine city, the line of which was marked with stones, with the thongs in their hands in two bands, striking the people who crowded near. Girls and young women would line up on their route to receive lashes from these whips. This was supposed to ensure fertility, prevent sterility in women and ease the pains of childbirth. This tradition itself may survive (Christianised, and shifted to spring) in certain ritual Easter Monday whippings 1
The Christian clerics especially from the Roman Catholic faction later subsumed that famous pagan festival with their feast of Valentine by the Pope Gelasius I in 496 C.E by venerating that famous Saint of Rome (or Temi in modern day Rome, Italy) who was martyred by Claudius II in 270 C.E. The accounts of that famous saint (Christian Encyclopedia cites three saints in this regard which faced the fate of martyrdom from the hands of the pagan rulers of Roman empire) truly revives ones consciousness and put the spirit of sacrifice in the true perspective of The Love of God Almighty. The modern age seems to have forsaken the true message of that great sacrifice of that immortal soul when he refused to abandon his faith on true One God and suffered vicious torture from the hands of his tormentors and later his blessed head was severed from his body on this same day of the 14th of February 270 C.E.
Whether the day of his martyrdom is 14th or something else the crux of the story of his sacrifice is to not forsake the faith and love of God even one have to face the traumas of persecution or death from the hands of the infidels even though one can verbally retract from his faith from the fear of the loss of his / her life. But unfortunately in modern age its true divine and pristine message of The Love of God seems to have subsumed with the lustful love of man and woman which was generated by the slavish laden flattered poem of Geoffrey Chaucer in 1382 titled as Parlement of Foules to commemorate the first engagement ceremony of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia. Ever since then that festival of love used to get the royal patronage of the British Isles and now it has transformed into a world wide phenomena.
The sad aspect of this festival is that the Muslim world more and less has now also adopted this day with all of its ills and anomalies. The disintegration of moral values and expressing the love for opposite sex along with exchanging the lewd messages and gifts has become the norm of this particular day and seldom anyone has remembered its unique history and true message as perfectly espoused by the martyr saints of Allah Subhaan Wa Talah centuries ago. I can only pray and wish that if majority of us are insistent to celebrate & commemorate this day with the spirit of love and affection then it has to be directed towards the God Almighty not to the transient and shallow love of mortals which mostly borne out of the base feelings of sexual and lustful longings for the opposite sex. We should commemorate the great sacrifice of St Valentine for his pious love of God mainly not for the love of a mortal woman (St Valentine is strongly believed to healed the terminal illnesses of blindness and hearing of the girl of his jailer during the time of his incarceration and thus the crooked minds wrongfully twisted that merciful act of a blessed saint towards his lust for that girl).as it is mistakenly perceived in modern times by majority of the young men & women.
Ref 1: Plutarch, The Parallel Lives: Life of Caesar, circa 46-120 C.E
Lupercalia, of which many write that it was anciently celebrated by shepherds, and has also some connection with the Arcadian Lycaea. At this time many of the noble youths and of the magistrates run up and down through the city naked, for sport and laughter striking those they meet with shaggy thongs. And many women of rank also purposely get in their way, and like children at school present their hands to be struck, believing that the pregnant will thus be helped in delivery, and the barren to pregnancy
The festival began with the sacrifice by the Luperci (or the flamen dialis) of two male goats and a dog. Next two young patricians Luperci were led to the altar, to be anointed on their foreheads with the sacrificial blood, which was wiped off the bloody knife with wool soaked in milk, after which they were expected to smile and laugh.
The sacrificial feast followed, after which the Luperci cut thongs from the skins of the victims, which were called Februa, dressed themselves in the skins of the sacrificed goats, in imitation of Lupercus, and ran round the walls of the old Palatine city, the line of which was marked with stones, with the thongs in their hands in two bands, striking the people who crowded near. Girls and young women would line up on their route to receive lashes from these whips. This was supposed to ensure fertility, prevent sterility in women and ease the pains of childbirth. This tradition itself may survive (Christianised, and shifted to spring) in certain ritual Easter Monday whippings 1
The Christian clerics especially from the Roman Catholic faction later subsumed that famous pagan festival with their feast of Valentine by the Pope Gelasius I in 496 C.E by venerating that famous Saint of Rome (or Temi in modern day Rome, Italy) who was martyred by Claudius II in 270 C.E. The accounts of that famous saint (Christian Encyclopedia cites three saints in this regard which faced the fate of martyrdom from the hands of the pagan rulers of Roman empire) truly revives ones consciousness and put the spirit of sacrifice in the true perspective of The Love of God Almighty. The modern age seems to have forsaken the true message of that great sacrifice of that immortal soul when he refused to abandon his faith on true One God and suffered vicious torture from the hands of his tormentors and later his blessed head was severed from his body on this same day of the 14th of February 270 C.E.
Whether the day of his martyrdom is 14th or something else the crux of the story of his sacrifice is to not forsake the faith and love of God even one have to face the traumas of persecution or death from the hands of the infidels even though one can verbally retract from his faith from the fear of the loss of his / her life. But unfortunately in modern age its true divine and pristine message of The Love of God seems to have subsumed with the lustful love of man and woman which was generated by the slavish laden flattered poem of Geoffrey Chaucer in 1382 titled as Parlement of Foules to commemorate the first engagement ceremony of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia. Ever since then that festival of love used to get the royal patronage of the British Isles and now it has transformed into a world wide phenomena.
The sad aspect of this festival is that the Muslim world more and less has now also adopted this day with all of its ills and anomalies. The disintegration of moral values and expressing the love for opposite sex along with exchanging the lewd messages and gifts has become the norm of this particular day and seldom anyone has remembered its unique history and true message as perfectly espoused by the martyr saints of Allah Subhaan Wa Talah centuries ago. I can only pray and wish that if majority of us are insistent to celebrate & commemorate this day with the spirit of love and affection then it has to be directed towards the God Almighty not to the transient and shallow love of mortals which mostly borne out of the base feelings of sexual and lustful longings for the opposite sex. We should commemorate the great sacrifice of St Valentine for his pious love of God mainly not for the love of a mortal woman (St Valentine is strongly believed to healed the terminal illnesses of blindness and hearing of the girl of his jailer during the time of his incarceration and thus the crooked minds wrongfully twisted that merciful act of a blessed saint towards his lust for that girl).as it is mistakenly perceived in modern times by majority of the young men & women.
Ref 1: Plutarch, The Parallel Lives: Life of Caesar, circa 46-120 C.E
