In elementary school, a holiday typically meant an excuse to eat homemade cupcakes at the end of the day. Further, as a young boy, I always looked forward to that cupcake. Yet, there was one holiday party that involved a quid pro quo for that delicious handheld treat—Valentine’s Day. In exchange for that sweet, you had to give a valentine to every single person in the class. I dreaded the inevitable hand cramp that would certainly come after signing “From Mark” twenty times. It was almost not worth the cupcake. So what’s the story behind the candy hearts and roses and my sore valentine writing hand?
In the early records of the martyrs, three Valentines are mentioned, all dying on February 14th. These all died in third century persecutions. One Valentine, a Roman priest, is said to have sent a letter to a female friend on the day he died (February 14, 269 AD) and it was signed “from your Valentine.” By the eleventh century, a gate in Rome was named after this Valentine. However, it was in France and England a few hundred years later that February 14 became associated with couples in love, due more to the mating habits of birds rather than the third century martyr.
Handmade Valentine’s Day cards were traditional in England, and that tradition continued in Colonial America. In the mid nineteenth century, the New England Valentine Company gave birth to the mass produced greeting card industry. As for Cupid (god of Desire), who today is a much less fearsome character than in Roman mythology, his presence at Valentine’s Day is a holdover from a pagan Roman festival held during mid-February.
Valentine’s Day is a perfect illustration showing how some holidays are the product of a handful of events woven together by traditions and time. Valentine’s Day is a combination of a pagan festival, a Christian legend, bird watching and American capitalism. Similar stories accompany St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Halloween and even Christmas, but to a sentimental person they are simply beloved holidays.
In contrast, the message of Jesus is vastly different. From the fall of man it was prophesied that a unique man would be born to conquer Satan (Genesis 3:15). Over the next four millennia, more than three hundred prophesies described this Messiah. Could you image anticipating President’s Day or Martin Luther King, Jr. Day for thousands of years before celebrating those holidays?
In about thirty years, Jesus fulfilled all of those three hundred plus prophesies. After the Ascension of Christ, the apostles delivered the “traditions” (1 Corinthians 11:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:15) of Christianity, and within a span of 30-50 years, inspired men recorded those laws in the New Testament. Even holidays like Independence Day, Memorial Day and Thanksgiving took much longer just to establish as national holidays.
Additionally, Christianity is not a once a year holiday, but rather it is a lifestyle that will reach into eternity. No manmade celebration can match the perfection of the Gospel. So on this Valentine’s Day, remember what a wonderful God we serve, who is love and has done all to show us what love truly is.
