Should We Cancel Valentine's Day?
Everybody has heard of "cancel culture." Poorly chosen words or sordid past deeds have come back to haunt people and groups of all descriptions. We take a brief look at the seemingly innocent practices attached to Valentine's Day and reveal that all is not what it might seem. What should we do about it?
February 14th: a day of chocolates, flowers, love notes and romantic evenings. It's important to take the time to ensure that those who are special in your life know how much you appreciate them, but why this day? There are many cute stories floating around out there, but what are the real origins of Valentines day?
Traditions don't become traditions without backstory. But all too often, we simply go along with what everyone has always done and fail to question how it all began. The encyclopedia Britannica helps connect the dots to an ancient festival which gradually morphed into modern Valentine's Day.
"The holiday has origins in the Roman festival of Lupercalia, held in mid-February. The festival, which celebrated the coming of spring, included fertility rites and the pairing off of women with men by lottery." (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Valentines-Day)
This pairing off women with men by lottery was the original "be my valentine." How romantic? Pull a name out of a hat for an intimate evening—of course little is written of the obvious repercussions of such an evening of licentiousness. One can only wonder how many lives of young women were drastically altered based solely on who drew their name.
If this wasn't enough, let's fill in a few more of the details concerning Lupercalia. From history.com :
"In Ancient Rome, the feasting began after the ritual sacrifice. When the feast of Lupercal was over, the Luperci [a group of Roman priests] cut strips, also called thongs or februa, of goat hide from the newly-sacrificed goats.
They then ran naked or nearly naked around Palantine [an area of Rome] whipping any woman within striking distance with the thongs. Many women welcomed the lashes and even bared their skin to receive the fertility rite…"
Suddenly invited out for traditional Valentine's Day doesn't sound so appealing. Of course, like so many other pagan festivals Lupercalia needed to be "Christianized" in order to survive.
Later, Pope Gelasius I muddled things in the 5th century by combining St. Valentine's Day with Lupercalia to expel the pagan rituals. . . It was a little more of a drunken revel, but the Christians put clothes back on it.
This is not a day which honours love. It does not honour women, nor does it promote healthy relationships. With society's current desire to expel anything with a past which does not live up to modern ideals we have to ask the question. Why hasn't Valentine's Day been cancelled?
For more videos detailing the origins of modern celebrations, be sure to click on our playlist on Confused "Christian" Traditions.