The Spiritual Meaning of Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is the day for sharing love and joy. We witness expressions of love in many forms between friends, family, and couples on this day. Valentine’s Day also has spiritual aspects to it. Still, the day wasn’t always about love and romance.

People celebrate Valentine’s Day by expressing love for each other. It is shrouded in history stemming from Roman times. While many celebrate with flowers, hearts, chocolates, and more gifts, there is also a spiritual meaning for Valentine’s Day, and all leads to love.

Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate love. Many people worldwide celebrate this day, but it also has a spiritual meaning. Valentine’s Day is commemorated on February 14th and falls on the third Sunday in Lent.

This spiritual meaning of Valentine’s Day was likely started in the Middle Ages when some Roman organizations would use this day to encourage couples to marry, so they could produce more children and grow their church membership. In some cultures, this spiritual meaning of Valentine’s Day still exists today.

How Valentine’s Day Began

Valentine’s Day is a day that celebrates love. It is observed on February 14th every year.

The celebration of Valentine’s Day has a long history, dating back to ancient Rome at around 496AD. The tradition spread throughout Europe by the Middle Ages.

There are several ways that Valentine’s Day began, according to legend.

Three people in ancient Rome called Valentine or Valentinus played a pivotal role in how the event began. The Valentines were also mytred for their role in how it all began.

The emperor of Rome, Claudius the II, created a rule that single men were no longer allowed to get married because they served as better soldiers than those who were married. Valentine, a priest of the Catholic Church, disregarded the emperors’ law and disagreed with it since it was so unfair. He continued to marry young couples in secret. When his actions became known, the emperor ordered St. Valentine’s death.

Other legends suggest that St. Valentine of Terni was the one who began Valentine’s day, and as a result, he was beheaded.

Apart from the secret marriages, some stories suggest that Valentine had helped Christians regain freedom by assisting their escapes from captivity in the terrible Roman prisons.

Another ledged suggests that Valentine was imprisoned, but he had fallen in love with someone and was the first person to send a love letter to his beloved from prison. It’s also rumored that Valentine had signed his last letter with “…from your Valentine.”

Valentine’s Pagan Festival

The pagans also celebrated Valentine’s day. Apart from St. Valentine, there were also pagan celebrations that included sacrificial offerings to Roman gods. These events took place amongst the Luperci, also called Lupercalia. The Luperci were Roman priests, also referred to as priests of the cult ancient Roman rural god named Faunus.

The festival would also include pairing men and women together as couples for the year, and then some would get married too. All these events would transpire along with the Valentine’s Day date.

Valentine’s Day for Christians or Christianity

Amongst the Christian faith, Valentine’s Day is often regarded as a day to share the love of God. The gift of love is placed in our hearts, and this is symbolic of the heart feature seen in all Valentine’s gestures. People also represent the love of God as He created us because He had so much love for mankind, His creation. 

In Other Recordings

Valentine was regarded as a highly-competent hunter of wolves. He also went by the names Nimrod, Pan, Osiris, and Saturn.

Cupid

Cupid is the famous icon or mascot of Valentine’s Day and is seen in many cards and gifts presented on the day. According to Valentine’s Day legend, Cupid is also the son of Venus, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. Cupid is the god of love and uses his arrows to cause people to fall in love with each other even if, in reality, they hate each other. Cupid enjoyed the upset he caused by causing people who didn’t love each other to fall in love.

The Romans and Phoenicians also made offerings to Baal and were seen as the Pagan god. Bal also means heart, and this was said to be the origin of the heart symbol seen everywhere on Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day in Modern Day

In the early 19th Century, Valentine’s celebrations were left for couples and only celebrated by them. Recently, Valentine’s day is celebrated by everyone and is symbolic of sharing love, friendship, and care amongst different folks.

Gifts For Valentine’s Day

There are a multitude of gift ideas for this holiday of love and these include but are not limited to:

  • Chocolates and sweets – Sweet treats like chocolate is a staple on Valentine’s Day
  • His and hers – Some couples enjoy gifts like his and hers shared items as a cute way to show they’re together and sporting the same outfits.
  • Cake treats – More sweet treats like cakes and pastries are an excellent choice for the day.
  • Cards – Specially designed cards for the holiday of love hugs and kisses are often used as part of a gift.
  • Romantic holiday getaway – There are also wonderful places to spend a holiday away with your significant other over Valentine’s Day weekend (if it happened to occur on a weekend)
  • Handwritten notes – Handwritten notes signed with love from one lover to the next are also common during Valentine’s Day. This custom also dates back to the early days of Valentine’s celebrations.
  • Expression through song and poetry – Poetic and gifted with words, people celebrate this day of love with their significant others by writing them a song or a poem. Even if you were shy and didn’t know how to speak in person to the crush you have, you can always share something with words.
  • Art and creativity – If you are excellent with colors, crafts, paint, and various mediums of art, then you could even do a beautiful art piece for your special someone as a Valentine’s gift.

Conclusion

Valentine’s Day, like Christmas and Easter, it was seen as a pagan celebration and pagan holiday. The holidays also had some changes to convert it into a Christian holiday without the pagan practices that were involved in the original holiday dates.

Today, Valentine’s Day continues in modern celebrations through gifts and sharing love with romantic others.