On Valentines's Day, Friends Let Friends Blog Naked...

My very good friend and naked blogger, BB Mumblings, wrote Affluenza and the Economy Bubble on her blog, Dither yesterday.

It is a good lesson to read on the eve of the biggest made up holiday for spending the money we ain't got...

St. Valentine. Who is St. Valentine? I grew up Catholic with lessons in saints everyday, and even I don't recall a discussion on St. Valentine. I asked a friend of mine who is educated in realms of philosophy, imagination and mysticism, and at the top of his head couldn't think of whom St.Valentine might be either.

History.com whose motto reads, "History Made Every Day", but should read, "History Made-up Every Day", based their lesson on Christian literalistic myth, so they don't even get linked. The Christian literalists stole everything they know from the Gnostics and Pagans. I would like to know which Pagan holiday St. Valentine's Day actually revolves around.

So, let's try again. Who is St. Valentine in regards to the Pagans? Of all places! I found an interesting beginning to my research at a website entitled, Biblestudy.org who attributes the celebration to the Pagan Romans. The festival which took part on the evening of the 14th and on the 15th of February honored Lupercus, who was known as "The Hunter of Wolves", and was known as Lupercalia. BibleStudy.org describes the festival as "idolatrous and sensuous" and as an ancient pagan practice of boys and girls hooking up and which "usually led to fornication". Wow. But we know that the Romans stole everything they know from the Greeks. So let's try again.

Who is Lupercus? The Encyclopedia of Gods confirms that He is indeed the God of wolves, Roman and celebrated in the festival of Lupercalia on the 15th of February.

According to several sources including, but not limited to, Herman L. Hoeh in his essay entitled, WHERE DID St. Valentine's Day come from? states that "The Greeks called Lupercus by the name of Pan."

So, let's go deeper? Who is Pan? So, again, The Encyclopedia of Gods states that Pan is the "God of shepherds and personification of undisciplined procreation in nature." Whoa. So when is procreation in nature ever disciplined?

Since Christian literalism took hold. (That's a personal opinion, by the way.)

Besides the written work of a few sources who may be borrowing from each other without actually citing each other (I found some plagiarism.), I really didn't find a connection between Lupercus and Pan except from a brief excerpt from this site. It states that Luperca'lia and "all the ceremonies with which it was held, and all we know of its history, shows that it was originally a shepherd-festival..." This may link Pan to the Roman holiday, since Pan is the Greek God of shepherds.

Hoen goes on to say: "The Semites called Pan, Baal." I'm really finding no evidence that Pan was known as Baal.

Interesting enough, a search for "st. valentine's day + pagans" brought me to the dreaded Wikipedia where I did find some interesting information which is enough to convince me to abandon my efforts to try and link St. Valentine's Day to any Pagan ceremonies.

Wikipedia brings evidence from Professor Jack Oruch of the University of Kansas. Professor Oruch observes: "While it is a common opinion that the Christian church may have decided to celebrate Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to Christianize celebrations of the pagan Lupercalia, no connection has been demonstrated."

And since this has been an exhausting search, I am willing to agree with Oruch.

Yes, it seems that St. Valentines day is a made-up day for romance and has been twisted by corporations to get you to buy shit. But you don't have to take my word for it. Go ahead and read about St. Valentine's day. I do suggest Wikipedia's explanation.

I think over-all that you will come to the same conclusion as me, and if not, let me know, please.

So, re-read BB Mumblings essay as linked at the beginning of this article to inspire you to think differently this Valentine's Day.

And, as always, thanks for reading.