Pagan Roots of Valentine's Day

[Messianicmdg]

Where did St. Valentines day come from?

You might suppose that school teachers and
educators would know. But do they? How many of you
were taught the real origin of Valentines Day? Why
should you observe the custom of exchanging
valentines? The silence of educators!!! Teachers
are all too often silent about the origin of the
customs, they are forced to teach in today's
schools! If they were to speak out, many would
lose their jobs!

Isn't it time we examined why we encourage our
children to celebrate St. Valentines Day -- when it
is never so much as mentioned in the Holy Bible as
a practice of the New Testament Congregation?
Today, candy makers unload tons of heart-shaped red
boxes for February 14, while millions of the younger
set are annually exchanging valentines Florists
consider February 14, -- St. Valentines Day -- as
one of their best business days. And young lovers
pair off -- at least for a dance or two -- at St.
Valentines balls.

Why? Where did these customs originate? Where do
we find any such practices in the Holy Bible? How
did we come to inherit these customs? Did you know
that century before Christ, the pagan Romans
celebrated February 15 and the evening of February
14 as an idolatrous and sensuous festival in Honor
of Lupercus, the "Hunter of Wolves"? The Romans
called the festival the "Lupercalia". The custom
of exchanging valentines and all other traditions
in Honor of Lupercus (the deified hero-hunter of
Rome) was also linked anciently with the pagan
practice of teenagers "going steady". It usually
led to fornication.

Today, the custom of "going steady" is thought to
be very modern. It is not. It is merely a rebirth of
an old custom handed down from the Roman festival
of the Lupercalia, celebrated in the month of
February, when names of young women were put into
a box and drawn out by men as chance directed.
When Constantine made Christianity the official
religion of the Roman Empire there was some talk
in church circles of discarding this pagan
free-for-all.

But the Roman citizens wouldn't hear of it! So it
was agreed that the holiday would continue as it
was except for the more grossly sensual observances.
It was not until the reign of Pope Gelasius that
the holiday became a "Christian custom". As far
back as 496 Pope Gelasius changed Lupercalia on
February 15 to St. Valentines Day on February 14.

But how did this pagan festival acquire the name
of St. Valentines Day? And why is the little naked
Cupid of the pagan Romans so often associated today
with February 14? And why do little children and
young people still cut out hearts and send them on
a day in Honor of Lupercus the hunter of wolves?
Why have we supposed these pagan customs in Honor
of a false god are Christian? Who was the Original
St. Valentine?

Valentine was a common Roman name. Roman parents
often gave the name to their children in Honor of
the famous man who was first called Valentine in
antiquity. That famous man was Lupercus, the
Hunter. But who was Lupercus? -- and why should he
have also born the name Valentine among the heathen
Romans? The Greeks called Lupercus by the name of
"Pan". the Semites called Pan "Baal," according to
the "Classical Dictionaries".

Baal -- mentioned so often in the Bible -- was
merely another name for Nimrod, "the mighty Hunter"
(Genesis 10:9). The hunter Nimrod was the Lupercus
-- or Wolf Hunter -- of the Romans. And St.
Valentines Day was originally a day set aside by the
pagans in his Honor! But why should Nimrod have been
called "Valentine" by the Romans? And why should the
celebration of this day have been anciently limited
to the city of Rome before Pope Gelasius' time? What
part did the site of ancient Rome play in the life
of Nimrod?

Valentine comes from the Latin word "Valentinus", a
proper name derived from the word "valens", meaning
"to be strong," declares "Webster's Unabridged
Dictionary". It means literally "strong, powerful,
mighty." Any connection with Nimrod? We read in the
Bible that Nimrod was the "Mighty Hunter"
(Genesis 10:9). It was a common proverb of ancient
time that Nimrod was "the Mighty Hunter before the
Lord." Nimrod was their hero -- Their Strong Man --
Their Valentine!

How plain that the original Valentine was Nimrod,
the mighty hunter of wolves. Yet another of Nimrod's
names was "Sanctus" or "Santa", meaning "Saint". It
was a common title of any hero-god. No wonder that
the Roman Lupercalia is called "Saint Valentines Day"!
But why do we associate hearts on a day on Honor of
Nimrod -- the Baal of the Phoenicians and Semites?
The surprising answer is that the pagan Romans
acquired the symbol of the heart from the Babylonians.
In the Babylonian tongue the word for "heart" was
"bal". The heart --- "bal" was merely a symbol of
Nimrod -- the "Baal" or Lord of the Babylonians!"

Nimrod -- the original St. Valentine -- was also known
as Saturn, the Roman-Babylonian god Hid from his
pursuers in a secret place. The Latin word Saturn is
derived from the Semitic-speaking Babylonians. It
means "be hid", "hide self", "secret", "conceal". The
original Semitic (Hebrew) word, from which the Latin
Saturn is derived, is used used 83 times in the Old
Testament.

According to ancient tradition, Saturn (Nimrod) fled
from his pursuers to Italy. The Apennine Mountains of
Italy were anciently named the mountains of Nembrod
or Nimrod. Nimrod briefly hid out at the site where
Rome was later built. The ancient name of Rome, before
it was rebuilt in 753 B.C., was Saturnai -- the site
of Saturn's (Nimrod's) hiding. There he was found and
slain for his crimes.

Later, professing Christians in Constantine's day made
Nimrod -- the St. Valentine of the heathen -- a Saint
of the Church and continued to Honor him under the name
of a Christian martyr. Why February 14Th? But why
should the Romans have chosen February 15 and the
evening of February 14 to Honor Lupercus -- the Nimrod
of the Bible? (Remember that days in ancient times began
at sunset the evening before.)

Nimrod -- the Baal or sun god of the ancient pagans --
was said to have been born at the winter solstice. In
ancient times the solstice occurred on January 6 and his
birthday therefore was celebrated on January 6. Later,
as the solstice changed, it was celebrated on December
25 and is now called Christmas. It was the custom of
antiquity for the mother of a male child to present
herself for purification on the fortieth day after the
day of birth.

The fortieth day after January 6 -- Nimrod's original
birth date -- takes us to February 15, the celebration of
which began on the evening of February 14 -- the
Lupercalia or St. Valentines Day. On this day in
February, Semiramis, the mother of Nimrod, was said to
have been purified and to have appeared for the first
time in public with her son as the original "Mother and
Child". The Roman month February, in fact, derives its
name from "februa" which the Roman priests used in the
rites celebrated on St. Valentines Day.

The "febua" were thongs from the skins of sacrificial
animals used in rites of purification on the evening of
February 14. Cupid makes his appearance. Another name for
the child Nimrod was "Cupid" -- meaning "Desire". It is
said that when Nimrod's mother saw him, she lusted after
him -- she desired him. Nimrod became her Cupid -- her
desired one -- and later her Valentine! So evil was
Nimrod's mother that it is said she married her own son!

Inscribed on the monuments of ancient Egypt are
inscriptions that Nimrod (the Egyptians called him
Osiris) was "the husband of his mother." As Nimrod grew
up, he became the child-hero of many women who desired
him. He was their Cupid! In the book of Daniel he is
called the "Desire of woman" (Daniel 11:37). He provoked
so many women to Jealousy that an idol of him was often
called the "image of jealousy" (Ezekiel 8:5).

Nimrod, the hunter, was also their Valentine -- their
strong or mighty hero! No wonder the pagans commemorated
their hero-hunter Nimrod, or Baal, by sending heartshapped
love tokens to one another on the evening of February 14
as a symbol of him. Nimrod, the mulatto son of Cush the
Ethiopian, was later a source of embarrassment to the
pagans of Europe. They didn't want an African to worship.
Consequently, they substituted a supposed son of Nimrod,
a white child named Horus, born after the death of Nimrod.
This white child then became the "fair Cupid" of European
tradition.

It is about time we examined these foolish customs of the
pagans now falsely labeled Christian. It is about time we
quit this Roman and Babylonian foolishness -- this Idolatry
-- and get back to the faith of Yeshua /Jesus that he
delivered once for all time. Let's stop teaching our
children these pagan customs in memory of Baal the sun god
-- the original St. Valentine -- and teach them instead
what the Bible really says!

Shalom
Michael Grant