Here comes another Non-Muslim celebration and as usual, what I am about to share with you is being given in an intellectual tone with no disrespect intended. This information is being shared in order to explain why Muslims do not celebrate Valentine’s Day to shed light to anyone who may be wondering why, of all things, Muslims do not engage themselves in Non-Muslim holidays generally.
Let’s go back to the origins of Valentine’s Day, in ancient Rome in their festivities known as the Lupercalia. Lupercalia is a Roman pagan ritual that is celebrated in mid-February before the institution of Roman Catholicism as their state religion in 380 CE. Lupercalia is what we call now as Valentine’s Day.
Lupercalia is an occasion for obscenity and promiscuity. A time to be drunk, parade the streets of Rome naked and sacrifice animals for the gods especially to Pan, the god of farming and sexual intercourse. The wisdom behind the celebration of Lupercalia is the purification of the cities and for the citizens to be fertile the entire year. In fact, February was named such from the word Febreus which means purification.
Lupercalia is a systematic ritual with its own priests known as the Luperci or the brotherhood of the wolf. Their tradition dates back to the legend of the beginning of Rome where two babies, Romulus and Remus were suckled by a wolf for them to survive. The Luperci sacrifice animals in a special altar for the occasion and their forehead is marked thereafter from the blood of the sacrificial animal that is on the sacrificial knife.
A feast would follow this sacrifice and the skin of the slaughtered animals is distributed to the public for them to run on the Roman streets and hit anyone with it. They do this while they are drunk and naked and they believe that this is the act that causes fertility that makes this part of the festivities more welcome to the women who would even line up for them to be struck with the said skin. The pregnant women line up too believing that this will ease their labor. Matchmakings between men and women are also made this day in order for them to fornicate.
In 269 CE, a man named Valentine of Rome was executed by the Romans during the Lupercalia who was later made a saint in 496 CE. Another man by the name of Valentine of Terni was executed during the Lupercalia of 273 CE who was also made a saint. A third man who goes by the name of Valentine was also recorded to be have been executed by the Romans during Lupercalia in Africa which was under Roman dominion that time. All these executions happened during the reign of Emperor Claudius.
There are different accounts of the reasons for the execution of the three Valentines. One of these is that they were preaching Christianity which was illegal in Rome until Emperor Constantine made it legal in 313 CE. Emperor Constantine is the one that Filipinos commemorate during the Flores de Mayo festivities as the one who found the True Cross where Jesus was crucified. Queen Helena, on the other hand, is his mother.
Other stories tell of a Valentine, or at least one of them who marry Roman soldiers off which was also illegal in their tour of duty. There was also the famous story of a Valentine who had a romantic relationship with a daughter of a judge that he has healed of blindness, and upon his execution, for whatever reason, he sent this lady a letter saying, ‘From your Valentine’ as a farewell.
The Roman Catholic Church, later on, recognized February 14 as Saint Valentine’s Day. In the 5th centurPope Gelasius I combined Lupercalia with Saint Valentine’s Day. Lupercalia, just like the other Roman festivities, like Saturnalia that became Christmas, were made Christian festivities in order to attract the pagans into the new Catholic religion.
The popularity of Valentine’s Day became more widespread because of the works of romance writers such as Shakespeare and others. It became more widespread in other parts of the world and just like other occasions, they developed a whole industry that is dependent on the money that is made during these festivities. Every year, billions of dollars are being made from chocolates, flowers, Valentine’s cards, and other gift items during Valentine’s Day. Helen Fisher, a sociologist even remarked that due to Valentine’s day, the Hallmark company was saved from bankruptcy.
Added to that is the added revenue to the hotel and resort industries that get fully booked these days especially due to the unmarried couples who may be involved in extramarital and pre-marital sex who believe that they must express their love this day.
Industries that make money out of Valentine’s Day make every kind of promotion and advertisement in order to lure people into spending more in order to celebrate this day even more. Unwittingly, these marketing stunts inculcate to the people that it is worthless to spend this day alone without a romantic partner. This phenomenon is known to cause a rise in cases of depression on people who don’t have romantic partners for Valentine’s Day.
This pagan origin of Valentine’s Day is enough reason for any pious Muslim to avoid it because its origin is that of paganism and polytheism, something that even the Catholic Church knows about and is constantly reminding people to avoid. Added to this is the belief that Muslims hold that festivities are considered as acts of worship as they involve sacrificing animals and veneration of a deity whether it’s a saint like Saint Valentine or an ancient god like Pan.
Muslims only have two yearly holidays. Eidul Fitr after Ramadhan, the month of fasting and Eidul Adha during the time of Hajj or pilgrimage. Muslims may not participate during the festivities but they sure could enjoy the day off for any non-Muslim occasion. For more information about Islam please visit our Facebook page: Hasanah Media Agency.
