Valentine’s Day is more than candy hearts and romance—and if you’ve never been taught its true background, this teaching will open your eyes.
You’ll learn where Valentine’s Day came from and why history and Scripture must be examined together when evaluating modern celebrations. We don’t tell you what to think—we give you the tools to think critically and honestly.
So join us as we peel back the layers of history to reveal the God Honest Truth about Valentine’s Day.
Don’t forget to like this video, subscribe to our channel, and click the bell icon so you don’t miss our next teaching!
#ValentinesDay #HistoryOfValentinesDay #ValentinesDayHistory #GodHonestTruth
Video Chapters:
00:00:00 Teaching Introduction
00:00:51 Video Start
00:02:16 Hint of History
00:12:48 ‘Saint’ Valentine
00:17:48 The Valentine’s Day We Know
00:23:59 Modern Observances
00:31:07 Valentine Symbols
00:40:13 Summary
Resources from God Honest Truth:
Get the full notes, drash slides, and transcript for this teaching: https://www.godhonesttruth.com/wp/2026/01/30/valentines-day-separating-history-from-hallmark-live-01-30-2026/
Find more resources to help you in your walk of faith: [https://www.GodHonestTruth.com]
Buy Me a Coffee:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/GodHonestTruth
Ko-fi:
https://ko-fi.com/godhonesttruth
Social Media Links:
https://godhonesttruth.com/wp/connect-socially/
Music: TheFatRat - Kingdom Come
Watch the official music video: https://tinyurl.com/tfrkingdomcome
Listen to Kingdom Come: https://thefatrat.ffm.to/warriorsongs
Follow TheFatRat: https://ffm.bio/thefatrat
—-Disclaimer:
The information presented here is for documentary, educational, and entertainment purposes only. Any imitation or application of the content is done at your own risk. Neither the creators nor associated platforms shall be liable for any injury or damage resulting from such use. This content is freely accessible; please report any unauthorized attempts to charge. By viewing or flagging this content, you acknowledge and accept these terms.
Fair Use: Any inclusion of third-party audio/music, video, or images is used under Fair Use for commentary, parody, and educational or documentary purposes.
This video may contain content that is unsuitable for overly sensitive persons with low self-esteem, no sense of humor or irrational religious beliefs.
You’ll learn where Valentine’s Day came from and why history and Scripture must be examined together when evaluating modern celebrations. We don’t tell you what to think—we give you the tools to think critically and honestly.
So join us as we peel back the layers of history to reveal the God Honest Truth about Valentine’s Day.
Don’t forget to like this video, subscribe to our channel, and click the bell icon so you don’t miss our next teaching!
#ValentinesDay #HistoryOfValentinesDay #ValentinesDayHistory #GodHonestTruth
Video Chapters:
00:00:00 Teaching Introduction
00:00:51 Video Start
00:02:16 Hint of History
00:12:48 ‘Saint’ Valentine
00:17:48 The Valentine’s Day We Know
00:23:59 Modern Observances
00:31:07 Valentine Symbols
00:40:13 Summary
Resources from God Honest Truth:
Get the full notes, drash slides, and transcript for this teaching: https://www.godhonesttruth.com/wp/2026/01/30/valentines-day-separating-history-from-hallmark-live-01-30-2026/
Find more resources to help you in your walk of faith: [https://www.GodHonestTruth.com]
Buy Me a Coffee:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/GodHonestTruth
Ko-fi:
https://ko-fi.com/godhonesttruth
Social Media Links:
https://godhonesttruth.com/wp/connect-socially/
Music: TheFatRat - Kingdom Come
Watch the official music video: https://tinyurl.com/tfrkingdomcome
Listen to Kingdom Come: https://thefatrat.ffm.to/warriorsongs
Follow TheFatRat: https://ffm.bio/thefatrat
—-Disclaimer:
The information presented here is for documentary, educational, and entertainment purposes only. Any imitation or application of the content is done at your own risk. Neither the creators nor associated platforms shall be liable for any injury or damage resulting from such use. This content is freely accessible; please report any unauthorized attempts to charge. By viewing or flagging this content, you acknowledge and accept these terms.
Fair Use: Any inclusion of third-party audio/music, video, or images is used under Fair Use for commentary, parody, and educational or documentary purposes.
This video may contain content that is unsuitable for overly sensitive persons with low self-esteem, no sense of humor or irrational religious beliefs.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00You've seen the hearts, the roses, and the romance, but have you ever stopped to examine
00:07and question where this whole celebration of Valentine's Day actually came from?
00:12You were taught to celebrate Valentine's Day, but you were never taught to question
00:15it.
00:16Well in this video, in this teaching, we're going to be examining the origins of Valentine's
00:21Day and actually going back even further than that to look at some ancient history as well.
00:27You don't want to miss a single point of this if you want to be educated about what Valentine's
00:31Day is actually all about, so stay tuned.
00:35All right, so this teaching is going to be all about Valentine's Day.
00:56We're going to go over some history, we're going to go over some unknown facts, or probably
01:02unknown to you.
01:02It's going to be some very interesting stuff that we're going to go over in our pursuit
01:06of learning where this day comes from and the evolution and changes over time.
01:14So definitely make sure to stay tuned.
01:16That's coming up in just a minute.
01:18But before we get to all that, I do want to let you know, in case you haven't done this
01:23before, there's a lot more notes that we've got for you than what's going to be presented
01:27here in this teaching.
01:29So if you want even more information than what you see here, you can go to our website,
01:34click on the post for this episode, and that'll take you to our article post, which has the
01:38on-demand video that you see here on your screen.
01:41It'll also have the draw slides that you can go through at your own pace.
01:45It'll have the notes that we took for this particular subject and episode, and it'll also
01:50have the transcript once that gets available, if that is of any benefit to you.
01:55And that's all right there on godhonesttruth.com.
01:58And the easiest way to do it is go down below in the description, and we provided for you
02:02a convenient link that's all you got to do is click on, and it takes you directly to
02:06that article post.
02:07And that link should be down there, whether you're watching on a video platform or an audio
02:12podcasting platform, it should still be down there all the same.
02:16So on Valentine's Day, it starts, I don't necessarily agree with the starting point,
02:23but a lot of people date it all the way back to the Roman times, and you'll see why I disagree
02:28with it here as we go through the teaching.
02:31But let's go ahead and look at a little bit of history just to get you caught up on at
02:37least what some people think and to get you educated on some things that happened in
02:41the past.
02:41Now, if you're not familiar with Rome, Rome is a very, very interesting bit of history.
02:48One particular part of that is the very first founding of Rome itself.
02:54The legend or the myth goes that there were two twin boys that were born, and they were
02:59named Remus and Romulus.
03:02And if you're a Trekkie like I am, that automatically starts throwing flags in your mind.
03:07And that's where those planets came from in the Star Trek universe.
03:12But anyways, these two boys were born, and they were actually considered to be a threat
03:17to a king at the time named King Amulius.
03:20If that's correctly pronounced.
03:22But he saw them as a threat to his throne.
03:24So he sought to have them killed.
03:26And in doing so, they were left to die on the Tiber River.
03:31Now, as the story goes, they did not die on the Tiber River as infants or as young children,
03:38but rather they were saved by a she-wolf called Lupa.
03:43Now, something that is very, very interesting.
03:46Remember that name, Lupa, because it's going to come into play as we go throughout this history part.
03:50But the word Lupa is actually a vulgar slur, if you might call it.
04:00According to Edom Online, the vulgar word for harlot was skortum, literally skin or hide.
04:07Another term for harlot or whore or prostitute was lupa, which also means she-wool, literally she-wool.
04:16Well, it's almost like sometimes maybe the whole mythos was the actual animal that took care of them.
04:22But in reality, maybe they were actually cared for and raised by a hooker.
04:27I'm not entirely sure how that goes.
04:29I don't really care.
04:30It's Rome.
04:31It doesn't really matter in my life anyways.
04:34It's just kind of interesting to think about.
04:36Anyways, the story, the mythos goes that these twin boys were saved by a she-wolf called Lupa,
04:41and they were cared for and saved by this particular she-wolf.
04:46And the way, or part of the story goes, that this she-wolf cared for them and took care of them in a cave called Lupercal.
04:57Now remember that as we go through this particular section as well.
05:01Eventually, these twins, Romulus and Remus, were adopted and taken into the home of a farmer named Faustulus.
05:09And they were then raised by humans at that point, then on until they got into adulthood.
05:17And when they got into adulthood, these twins, Romulus and Remus, decided to found a city.
05:24And you can kind of see where this is going.
05:28But when they decided to found the city, they were split over some of the details that they were going over,
05:35trying to decide on and whatnot.
05:38And they could not come to a consensus, to an agreement on these details.
05:43So as a lot of Romans did, if you get into an argument, one surefire, time-tested way to win the argument
05:50is just to kill your opponent.
05:52Then you've got no one to argue with.
05:54So Romulus killed Remus, killed his twin brother Remus.
06:00And this is all according to the legend, the mythos here.
06:04So Romulus won the argument, apparently, and he founded the city and then named the city Rome after him, Romulus.
06:13That's where the name Rome comes from, from the name Romulus.
06:17Romulus won the argument.
06:18He got to found the city and all the details and got to decide on the name.
06:21So that is the founding of Rome, or the legend, the mythos that goes behind the founding of Rome.
06:28Don't take that as fact.
06:30That's just what has been going around for several thousand years.
06:34Anyways, moving on into history, there is a festival called Lupercalia.
06:39And that used to be celebrated on February 15th on the Roman calendar every year.
06:45It was originally known as Februa.
06:48Sound familiar?
06:50February.
06:51Anyways, Lupercalia was known as Februa.
06:55And at this particular festival, goats and dogs were sacrificed by the priest of the Lupercal.
07:02And they were known as Lupercalia, literally, brothers of the wolf.
07:08See how this is all fitting together?
07:10This Lupercalia, where the dogs, dogs, remember, and goats, were sacrificed by the Lupercai, which means brothers of the wolf.
07:21See how it's all playing back to the origin story?
07:23And these sacrifices took place at the entrance of Lupercalia.
07:29Now, if you remember from what we just went over, Lupercalia is the actual cave, according to legend, where the she-wolf cared for Romulus and Remus.
07:39Now, during this festival of Lupercalia, on the eve of Lupercalia, actually, young Roman women would write their names on paper, and then they placed them into a clay pot, as it were.
07:51And what happened is that young Roman men, usually noble young Roman men, would draw from this urn, wherever these women placed their names, and they would select a name.
08:05And they would be paired with that young woman throughout the festival.
08:09Some sources I saw said they were actually paired for the entire year until the next Lupercalia, but I'm not sure how accurate that is.
08:17So these men were paired up with the names they drew out, and they stayed paired up throughout the rest of the festival.
08:26Part of the ritual in Lupercalia is that these men would go around, and they would slap or hit the women with these strips of hide that came from the dogs and the goats that were sacrificed during the festival.
08:39By doing so, they believed that it would actually increase the fertility in the women and actually also make the birthing process easier and smoother as well.
08:50However, as time went on and Christianity started taking hold and spreading, in 494, Pope Galatius ended up banning Lupercalia.
09:01And in my opinion, for good cause, Lupercalia was just all about carnality and lust and pagan sacrifices, etc., etc.
09:09It was a good thing that it got banned.
09:12However, remember that date, 494, because it's all going to come into play here as we get going throughout this particular teaching.
09:22Now, one of the reasons you can kind of understand why they would want their women to be fertile and have a good childbirth,
09:30because think about it, before modern medicine, back then, the infant death rate was high.
09:35And one source I remember reading about or learning about says that back during these Roman times,
09:43each woman had to have about an average of eight children just to maintain the population numbers.
09:51That's not increased population numbers.
09:53That's just to maintain the population numbers.
09:56Eight children for every woman.
09:59Infant mortality was high back during that time.
10:01People would die early in their life just due to sickness or basic hygiene that we take for granted nowadays, etc., etc.
10:11So you can kind of understand why they would want their women to be fertile and to have a good childbirth.
10:20It does not justify this feast of Lupercalia, but it kind of does make it a little bit understandable,
10:27at least in my opinion.
10:28Definitely not taking up for it, so don't get me wrong there.
10:31We also get a sense of this festival of Lupercalia from the writings of Plutarch.
10:37And let me read you an excerpt from Plutarch.
10:39And this is Plutarch on the Lupercalia Incident.
10:42The feast of the Lupercalia was being celebrated, and at this time many of the magistrates and many young men of noble families run through the city naked,
10:53and in their jesting and merrymaking strike those whom they meet with shaggy thongs.
10:58And many women of high rank purposely stand in their way and hold out their hands to be struck like children at school.
11:05They believe that the effect will be to give an easy delivery to those who are pregnant and to help the baron become pregnant, end quote.
11:13So we kind of got some verification and coinciding with an actual writer here that goes along with the encyclopedia and dictionary entries that we looked at earlier.
11:26And this wasn't, the only information we get doesn't come just from the early times, like the first, second century from Plutarch.
11:34It also comes from later on in history from writers like Shakespeare.
11:39Of course, this is all fictional when he wrote his plays and whatnot, but it is referencing the actual festival that occurred way, way before him.
11:48Some probably 1,500, 2,000 years before him, and you can, I'm not going to read it for you, but it's in his play, Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare.
11:58And you can find references to it either A, on your screen here, as I've selected for you, B, in the notes that we took that you can go find on our website,
12:06or C, you can look it up in that actual play, Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare in Act 1, Scene 1, Act 1, Scene 2, and Act 3, Scene 2.
12:18So the myth or the information was known even up until the time of Shakespeare, and they still incorporated it into the works that he wrote, the plays and whatnot.
12:30So that's Luper Kellia, and that was on February 15th, not 14th.
12:35So we've got, we're kind of close to that whole Valentine's thing, but we're not quite there.
12:41So you might be thinking, okay, how does all this equate and go along with Valentine's?
12:48Well, let's go ahead and do our next step in the history and look at, quote-unquote, Saint Valentine.
12:57Back in the day, Valentine seems to be a somewhat popular name, and as far as we're talking about, there was actually two different Valentines.
13:07We don't know exactly who it was that eventually got the name Valentine on February 14th, but it was Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Turney.
13:17Emperor Claudius II, during his reign, there were all kinds of wars and skirmishes going on, as Romans were wont to do, and of course during war, you lose men and you need to replace them, you need to build your army, and if a man got married, he did not have to do service for so long.
13:37And this kind of hampered the war efforts, so there was a kind of a banning of getting married and falling in love and et cetera, et cetera, because it was tough to get men to join the army for Emperor Claudius II.
13:53Like I said, Claudius banned marriages and engagements, but this did not stop the Valentine that we're talking about now.
14:02Valentine disobeyed, like I said, I don't know if it was Valentine of Rome or Valentine of an attorney, but Valentine disobeyed and continued marrying couples, even in secret.
14:13And that's where a lot of the legends of the quote-unquote saint, Valentine, kind of originate.
14:21But when he was found out, Valentine was beaten and then eventually killed on February 14th, about 270 of the common era.
14:32And that is why February 14th is known as Valentine's Day, because of this guy, Valentine, was martyred on February 14th.
14:42Now, both of these Valentines that we mentioned before, Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Turney, both of them were actually executed on February 14th, but they were executed in two different years by the same emperor, Emperor Claudius II.
14:56Now, that was in 270 CE.
15:02It took all the way up until 496 CE of the common era, before Pope Galatius actually established February 14th as St. Valentine's Day.
15:15Even up until this point, I have found that Valentine was executed in 270.
15:20At this point, the Feast of Lupercalia was still going on.
15:25At that point, I still have not found any evidence to kind of put Valentine and the martyrdom of Valentine together with the Feast of Lupercalia.
15:38And in 494, Lupercalia was banned by Pope Galatius.
15:43And then two years later, it took a whole other two years, then Pope Galatius initiated or inaugurated February 14th as St. Valentine's Day.
15:54And that's where we get the commemoration of Valentine, the martyrdom of Valentine.
15:59Then we read from Britannica.com, quote,
16:05Although the Roman Catholic Church continues to recognize St. Valentine as a saint of the church,
16:10he was removed from the general Roman calendar in 1969 because of the lack of reliable information about him, end quote.
16:20Now, does that sound kind of familiar?
16:22Just about a month ago, maybe a little bit more,
16:25However, we also examined another, quote-unquote, saint of the Catholic Church, St. Nicholas, correct?
16:33And there was so much unknown about him.
16:37Most of what we knew about St. Nicholas is all myth and legend and probably made up.
16:43Well, the same thing goes with this, quote-unquote, St. Valentine.
16:47We know very, very little about him, except that he was martyred on February 14th by a pagan Roman emperor.
16:58And that's about it.
17:00Most of the other stuff is just legend.
17:03We can't verify if it's true because we have no evidence to say,
17:08yeah, that actually happened or no, that didn't happen.
17:10And thankfully, the Catholic Church recognized their error some almost 1,700 years later
17:19and finally removed this guy from the general Roman calendar.
17:23Still think of him as a saint, which is no whole other barrel of worms.
17:28But, yeah, progress is progress.
17:31Credit where credit is due, right?
17:32So that is the guy, Valentine, how he got murdered, when he got murdered and martyred,
17:39and how this February 14th became known as Valentine's Day or St. Valentine's Day.
17:49Now, still, it's not the way we know it today because Lupercalia,
17:56this whole festival of lust and carnality and et cetera, et cetera,
18:01this old pagan stuff, that was outlawed and done away with in 494.
18:06Two years later, then Saint, quote-unquote, Saint Valentine,
18:13was given a day on the calendar, and that was February 14th.
18:16But it was just a remembrance, a commemoration.
18:19There was no feast for Valentine.
18:22There was no big party, and there was no reserving a table at the local restaurant,
18:28nothing like that.
18:30So now let's start to look at how we got the Valentine's Day that we know of in today's day and age.
18:38From Catholic.org, Catholic Online, quote,
18:42The romantic nature of Valentine's Day may have derived during the Middle Ages
18:47when it was believed that birds paired couples in mid-February.
18:51In 496 CE, Pope Galatius marked February 14th as a celebration in honor of Valentine's martyrdom,
18:59end quote.
19:00And from catholiceducation.org, quote,
19:03During the Middle Age, a common belief in England and France was that birds began to pair
19:08on February 14th, halfway through the second month of the year.
19:12For this reason, the day was dedicated to lovers
19:15and prompted the sending of letters, gifts, or other signs of affection, end quote.
19:22But now we're up into the Middle Ages, and specifically like the 14th century,
19:27but we'll get more into the more exact date here in just a moment.
19:31Remember, it was, Lupercalia was outlawed and banned in 494 CE.
19:36It was all the way up until the 1300s.
19:39Almost a thousand years had passed before this February 14th was associated in any way
19:46with love or romance or et cetera, et cetera.
19:49And it actually began not because of a pagan festival,
19:54but because of observations from people in Europe thinking that birds paired up
20:00and mated and stuff like that starting on February 14th.
20:04That is the source for why we associate Valentine's Day with love and romance, et cetera, et cetera.
20:12From catholic.com, quote,
20:15The reason the feast day has come to be associated with romance has nothing to do with the two saints,
20:21neither of whom had a clear connection to lovers or courtship.
20:25The association has to do with a belief dating at least from the time of Chaucer
20:30that birds pair up on February 14th.
20:33This belief about biology became associated with the feast of the day,
20:37and eventually the thought of courtship and romance came to dominate, end quote.
20:43So again, more evidence, more reasons that were,
20:49even more points to understand as to where this whole association of love and romance came from.
20:57And it came from the medieval ages, specifically about the 14th century, about the 1300s.
21:05And with birds, not from some kind of carnal, lustful, Roman, pagan festival.
21:13From history.com, quote,
21:15He was a medieval poet who first established the holiday's romantic tradition.
21:20Valentine's Day only became associated with love in the late Middle Ages,
21:24thanks to the English poet Jeffrey Chaucer.
21:27Bruce Forbes, a professor of religious studies at Morningside College in Iowa,
21:32says,
21:32The bottom line for me is until Chaucer,
21:34we have no evidence of people doing something special and romantic on February 14th, end quote.
21:40So here we have, again, even more and more evidence that
21:44February 14th, up until the time of Chaucer, during the Middle Ages,
21:49it wasn't associated with, well, pretty much anything.
21:53There was just a date on the calendar to remember the martyrdom of a guy who died 1,200 years before that.
22:01Then, in the time of Chaucer, in the 1300s, in the 14th century,
22:07people started associating February 14th with the pairing up of birds, etc., etc.
22:12And then, Valentine's Day, February 14th, became associated with romance and love, etc., etc.
22:18Now, here is a poem from Jeffrey Chaucer titled,
22:22The Parliament of Fowls, if you want to go and look that up.
22:26And it was written approximately about 1381, 1382, somewhere around there.
22:30But I'll read you just this first paragraph from the excerpt that I have here on the screen.
22:38And again, you can go and look at this for yourself, look it up, or you can go look at the notes.
22:43This first paragraph goes as such, quote,
22:46For this was on St. Valentine's Day, when every fowl comes there his mate to take,
22:51of every species that men know I say, and then so huge a crowd did they make, end quote.
22:57He also wrote other poems that included this whole love and romance thing on Valentine's Day as well.
23:06This comes from his work, The Complaint of Mars and Venus, by Jeffrey Chaucer,
23:12written somewhere around 1385, so about three years later.
23:16And it says, quote,
23:18That a time cometh which shall end your sorrow, for the glad night is worth a heavy morrow.
23:25Thus sang a bird, St. Valentine, what time thy natal day was in its early prime, end quote.
23:33Yeah, you're not going to hire me to read poetry anytime soon.
23:37But yeah, that comes from Jeffrey Chaucer back in the late 14th century,
23:41and that is really the beginning of when Valentine's Day started becoming associated with love and romance, etc., etc.
23:51It's still not what we know of today, but that's where it really began.
23:55What we know of today, that's where that whole connection really began.
23:59Some modern observances that eventually developed after the time of Chaucer,
24:03after it began to be associated with love and romance, etc., etc.
24:09Of course, when you think about Valentine's Day, how can you not think about Valentine cards?
24:16Well, coming from Britannica.com, quote,
24:19The paper Valentine with inscribed sentiment dates from the 16th century and the first printed Valentine
24:26may have been the frontispiece of a Valentine writer,
24:30a book of verses that offered assistance to the inarticulate
24:33and was issued as early as 1669, end quote.
24:38From ThoughtCo.com, quote,
24:41It seems that the writing of special notes and letters for Valentine's Day
24:44gained widespread popularity in the 1700s, end quote.
24:50So after the time of Chaucer
24:51and the beginning of the association of Valentine's Day with love and romance,
24:56it took a little while for the whole Valentine's card thing to come into play,
25:01but when it did, it really did.
25:04Coming from Time.com, quote,
25:07The earliest English, French, and American Valentines were little more than a few lines of verse
25:12and written on a sheet of paper, but as of the 18th century,
25:18their makers began to embellish them with pictures as well.
25:20The first commercial Valentine's appeared in England at the very end of the late 18th century, end quote.
25:28So as time goes on and things develop and so that's where cards really started to come into play that we really know of nowadays.
25:38That's really a big staple of Valentine's Day as we know it.
25:42We'll get into some other stuff here in just a moment, but that is working on cards.
25:47And finally, one more thing to talk about cards from History.com, quote.
25:51During the Victorian era, those who didn't want the attention of certain suitors
25:56would anonymously send vinegar Valentines.
25:59These cards, also called Penny Dreadfuls, were the antithesis of customary Valentines,
26:06comically insulting and rejecting unwanted admirers, end quote.
26:11And I've looked up some of these.
26:13You can yourself.
26:14Just go do a simple Bing search or whatnot.
26:18But if you look up some of these vinegar Valentines, they get fairly hilarious.
26:22They're absolutely mean-spirited, I think, but they're hilarious at the same time, too.
26:28Until I started doing this research about Valentine's Day and history and stuff like that,
26:34I never knew about vinegar Valentine.
26:38And it's one of those very, very interesting tidbits of history that really makes history very interesting.
26:45So moving on, we've looked at cards and there's a bunch of other stuff that goes along with Valentine's Day
26:51that we know of today.
26:53And one of those major things that goes along with Valentine's Day today is the consumption of chocolate.
27:00How can we forget chocolate?
27:01Coming from History.com.
27:04Quote,
27:05By the 1840s, the notion of Valentine's Day as a holiday to celebrate romantic love
27:10had taken over most of the English-speaking world.
27:14Into this love-crazed fray came Richard Cadbury,
27:17scion of a British chocolate manufacturing family
27:20who was responsible for sales at a crucial point in his company's history.
27:25Richard recognized a great marketing opportunity for the new chocolates
27:28and started selling them in beautifully decorated boxes that he himself designed.
27:33The reason we have chocolate associated with Valentine's Day today
27:41is because of marketing and because of the Cadbury family
27:46and the Cadbury company, obviously.
27:49And once he got the chocolates introduced and associated with Valentine's Day,
27:54as they say, the rest is history.
27:58From LeChocolatier.com,
27:59The association between chocolate and Valentine's Day can be traced back to the 19th century
28:06thanks to Richard Cadbury.
28:08The Cadbury family revolutionized the chocolate-making process,
28:11producing smooth, indulgent chocolates.
28:14Richard Cadbury designed the first heart-shaped box filled with chocolates
28:18specifically for Valentine's Day, forever linking the two.
28:21End quote.
28:22And from History.com,
28:24The Valentine's Day tradition of giving a box of candy was started in the 19th century
28:29by Richard Cadbury, a scion of a British chocolate manufacturing family.
28:34With a new technique recently established at the company to create more varieties of chocolate,
28:39Cadbury pounced on the opportunity to sell the chocolates as part of the beloved holiday.
28:45End quote.
28:46Now remember, this is in the 19th century, the 1800s.
28:49It was about 500 years after Valentine's Day had become associated with love and romance.
28:56That's when chocolate came on the scene.
29:00And it's been an integral part of Valentine's Day ever since.
29:05That's not the only integral part of Valentine's Day.
29:08We have cards, we have chocolates, but we also have, unfortunately, diamonds.
29:12And this is a fairly new association or new integration into the Valentine's Day festivities.
29:20Coming from NobleMetalRefining.com,
29:25Quote,
29:25Although lovers have exchanged gifts on Valentine's Day down through the ages,
29:29the custom of giving jewelry didn't really take hold until the 20th century.
29:34End quote.
29:34From Noly, I'm sorry,
29:38NolyCommunications.com,
29:41Quote,
29:41In 1947,
29:43Frances Geraghty,
29:44one of the only female writers on staff at NWA advertising agency,
29:49coined the phrase,
29:50A diamond is forever.
29:52The line became the slogan De Beers continues to use to this day.
29:56Since Geraghty coined this phrase,
29:58sales skyrocketed.
30:00From 1939 to 1979,
30:03De Beers' diamond sales in the United States increased from $23 million to $2.1 billion.
30:12End quote.
30:14So once the marketing took hold and diamonds got associated with Valentine's Day,
30:19it stuck.
30:21And just like chocolate,
30:23diamonds are associated with Valentine's,
30:26not for religious reasons,
30:27not for historical reasons,
30:28but for marketing reasons.
30:33There's really no connection between chocolate and Valentine's and diamonds and Valentine's
30:38other than the marketing concept.
30:41But it took hold,
30:42it stuck,
30:43and it's a part of the celebrations and that we know of today as Valentine's Day.
30:49So that's some of the various customs and things that we know of that we have come to familiarize
30:56and associate with Valentine's Day today.
30:59So now let's go,
31:00there's a lot more that we could go into,
31:02but I don't want to make this too,
31:03too long.
31:04I'm trying to cut it down and keep it reasonable tonight.
31:07But let's move on and look at some various Valentine symbols because I'm a nerd and I found this kind of interesting.
31:14And hopefully it is a benefit to you and you also find this interesting as well.
31:18But first,
31:20let's start out with hearts.
31:22And this is going to be extremely interesting,
31:24I think.
31:25Looking at History.com,
31:27quote,
31:28Silphium's seed pod bore a striking resemblance to the modern Valentine's heart,
31:33leading many to speculate that the herbs association with love and sex may have been what first helped popularize the symbol.
31:40The ancient city of Cyrene,
31:42which grew rich from the silphium trade,
31:45even put the heart shape on its money,
31:47end quote.
31:48And if you're watching on video or you're looking at the slides,
31:51at this point,
31:52you can see a coin from Cyrene and you can see that heart shape or we associate as the heart shape now on that coin.
32:01Back then,
32:01they would have associated that with the silphium pod,
32:05not necessarily love and romance and Valentine's because none of that existed at that point.
32:09From Wikipedia.org,
32:11quote,
32:12In the 5th to 6th century BCE,
32:15the heart shape was used in the Roman world to represent the seeds of the plant silphium,
32:20a plant possibly used as a contraceptive and an aphrodisiac.
32:24Silver coins from Cyrene of the 5th to 6th century BCE bear a similar design,
32:30sometimes accompanied by a silphium plant,
32:33and is understood to represent its seed or fruit,
32:36end quote.
32:37Now,
32:39I don't know if you actually understood this or knew this or not,
32:42but the common heart shape that we associate with love and the heart and et cetera,
32:49et cetera,
32:49isn't the actual shape of the human heart.
32:53Oddly enough,
32:54even though we say that's the center of our emotions and love and et cetera,
33:00et cetera,
33:00that's not what a human heart actually looks like.
33:05We look at time.com,
33:07quote,
33:08The shape is even closer to the look of a bird or reptile heart,
33:13given that the study of anatomy before the 14th century was based on the dissection of animals,
33:18end quote.
33:19So before,
33:21at a certain point in history,
33:22the dissection and study of the human body and dead corpses was forbidden.
33:28It was banned.
33:30So in order for doctors and scientists,
33:32et cetera,
33:32et cetera,
33:33to learn about anatomy and biology,
33:35they would have to dissect and study animals and they would dissect and study reptiles and birds,
33:43avians,
33:43et cetera,
33:43et cetera.
33:45And when they did so,
33:46they saw the heart of these animals and that part from the reptiles and from the birds,
33:53they actually look like the Valentine heart that we know of today.
33:57If you look on the screen here on the left,
34:00we have an image or a diagram example of a reptilian heart.
34:06And then on the right hand side,
34:07you have a diagram or a picture of a human heart.
34:11These are two different things.
34:14And we know about it now,
34:16but they didn't know about it back then.
34:18And once that shape took hold,
34:21it became tradition.
34:22It became ingrained in people's minds and people's cultures and beliefs,
34:27et cetera,
34:27et cetera.
34:28And as we all know,
34:30tradition is something that is a bear to try and get rid of.
34:35Obviously,
34:36in this case,
34:37it hasn't been gotten rid of because we still think of that Valentine heart as the shape of the heart,
34:42unfortunately,
34:44when it's actually not.
34:45So that's neither here nor there,
34:47you know,
34:47it's just an interesting thing to understand and know about.
34:51But coming from wikipedia.org,
34:54quote,
34:54the familiar symbol of the heart representing love developed in the 15th century and became popular in Europe during the 16th.
35:02Before the 14th century,
35:04the heart shape was not associated with the meaning of the heart metaphor.
35:08Since the 19th century,
35:10the symbol has often been used on Valentine's Day cards,
35:14candy boxes,
35:14and similar popular cultural artifacts as a symbol of romantic love,
35:19end quote.
35:20So for a long,
35:22long time,
35:23that Valentine heart shape was not associated with love or even the human heart.
35:28That came about about the 15th century,
35:31took hold,
35:32and then about the 19th century started getting on to the Valentine's Day scene.
35:38And once again,
35:39as they say,
35:40the rest is history.
35:43Another symbol commonly associated with Valentine's Day is the symbol of Cupid.
35:49Now,
35:49this is where you've really got to pay attention and be careful.
35:54Coming from RD or readersdigest.com,
35:58quote,
35:58the Valentine Cupid you can easily call to mind is an interpretation of Eros,
36:03the Greek god of love.
36:06The Romans reinterpreted many Greek myths and Eros is no exception.
36:10Once he was adopted by Roman culture,
36:12he was renamed Cupid,
36:14which stems from the word for desire,
36:16end quote.
36:17Now,
36:18Eros is the Greek word where we get our modern word erotic.
36:23Oddly enough,
36:24there's a lot of our words derived from Greek and Roman times,
36:28but especially Greek.
36:30But Eros eventually became known as Cupid once the Romans came on the scene and adopted
36:36and brought into their religion,
36:39the Greek religion and ideas,
36:41stuff like that.
36:41That's also something that we studied about a month ago,
36:45this whole concept of secretism or interpretatio Greca,
36:49interpretatio Romana,
36:51and interpretatio Christiana.
36:53It's adopting and syncretizing other religious beliefs with the one that you currently hold
36:59or are a part of.
37:01And the Romans did it to a scale that's almost indescribable.
37:07One of the things they did was taking this Greek Eros and adopting it,
37:12syncretizing it,
37:13and became the Roman Cupid.
37:17And that's what we know of today.
37:19From time.com,
37:21The Romans reinterpreted myths and concepts pertaining to the Greek Eros for Cupid.
37:26In classical mythology,
37:28Cupid is the god of desire,
37:30erotic love,
37:31attraction,
37:32and affection.
37:33His Greek counterpart is Eros.
37:36End quote.
37:37But,
37:38it's really not a counterpart.
37:39It's just an adoption,
37:41a copy,
37:42a
37:42takeover,
37:44I guess you could say.
37:46All these false pagan gods,
37:48they don't exist,
37:49so it's really neither here nor there.
37:50Anyways,
37:51looking at
37:53jstor.org,
37:55quote,
37:56it was the English literary giant,
37:58again Chaucer,
37:59and a circle of contemporaries
38:01who,
38:02building on the courtly love tradition,
38:04were the original myth makers of Valentine's Day as a holiday
38:08focused on love and fertility.
38:11Cupid's association with the day was present from the start.
38:14At the time of Chaucer's death in 1400,
38:18the transformation of Valentine into an auxiliary or parallel,
38:21to Cupid as sponsor of lovers was well underway.
38:25End quote.
38:26And finally,
38:27from history.com,
38:28quote,
38:29because of his association with love,
38:3119th century Victorians,
38:33credited with popularizing Valentine's Day,
38:36and giving the holiday its romantic spin,
38:38began depicting this cherubic version of Cupid on Valentine's Day cards,
38:43and a trend that has persisted until this day.
38:46End quote.
38:48So once again,
38:49once this whole thing of this false pagan god named Cupid got into tradition,
38:57it was hard to get rid of,
38:59and it's stuck with us,
39:01and still associated with Valentine's Day today.
39:04So,
39:04even though
39:05chocolate and diamonds have nothing to do with love and romance,
39:10it's,
39:11in my opinion,
39:12it's gray areas,
39:12neutral,
39:13whatever.
39:14Same thing with cards and the heart shape.
39:16But the symbol of Cupid,
39:19on the other hand,
39:20that's a different story entirely,
39:21at least in my opinion.
39:23That is a false pagan god,
39:27and should not have anything to do with anything that we do.
39:31Now,
39:32granted,
39:32I will give you this,
39:33it's only one aspect of the Valentine's Day celebration,
39:38and as far as I can tell,
39:40it's pretty much the only pagan aspect of Valentine's Day as we know it today.
39:45So,
39:45take that for what you will,
39:47but definitely,
39:48if you're going to celebrate Valentine's,
39:50definitely cut out the whole false pagan fairy tale of Cupid.
39:55Just do away with it,
39:56all together.
39:57But again,
39:58that's just my opinion,
39:59my interpretation.
40:00You have your own family,
40:02and you do you,
40:03so you make up your own mind.
40:04It's you that's going to give account for your decisions and your family,
40:08not me.
40:09You,
40:10again,
40:10do you.
40:11I'm just providing the information for you.
40:13In summary,
40:15let's recap everything that we've learned tonight about Valentine's Day.
40:19When we look at various holidays and stuff,
40:22we need to kind of think about three different criteria when we're thinking about it.
40:27It doesn't matter if it's one we think comes from scripture,
40:31or one that comes from culture or tradition,
40:33or one that we're even making up and brand spanking new.
40:37Number one,
40:38we need to determine whether or not it comes from scripture,
40:41whether or not it contradicts scripture,
40:43and whether or not it comes from a pagan source.
40:47So let's start out with a very,
40:49very easy one that you should be able to get in your sleep.
40:52Let's look at Passover.
40:54Passover.
40:55Does it come from scripture?
40:56Yes.
40:57Does it contradict scripture?
40:58No.
41:00Does it come from a pagan source?
41:02No.
41:02So Passover is good.
41:05Another way we know that is because Yahweh himself actually commands it.
41:10Number two,
41:12this is talking about the American Independence Day,
41:15July 4th.
41:16Let's examine that real quick.
41:19Does Independence Day come from scripture?
41:21No,
41:21it doesn't.
41:22Does it contradict scripture?
41:24No,
41:24it doesn't contradict scripture,
41:26even though the Jehovah's Witnesses may disagree with that particular statement.
41:31Oh,
41:31well,
41:32Independence Day does not contradict scripture.
41:34And number three,
41:36does it come from pagan sources?
41:37No.
41:38So Independence Day is not required to celebrate,
41:42but it's not,
41:43at least in my opinion and interpretation,
41:45it's not prohibited either.
41:47Look at Christmas.
41:49This should be fairly easy as well.
41:50If you've been watching the episodes that we've been producing.
41:54Number one,
41:55does Christmas come from scripture?
41:57No,
41:57it does not.
41:58Does it contradict scripture?
42:00Yeah,
42:00Christmas contradicts scripture.
42:02Does it come from pagan sources?
42:04Yes.
42:05Many times over?
42:06Yes.
42:07In many different aspects?
42:08Yes.
42:09So Christmas is definitely no bueno,
42:12no good.
42:13It's a pagan source thing that we should try our best,
42:18not believe in at the very least,
42:20and if we can,
42:22not celebrate it,
42:23if at all possible.
42:24Same thing with Easter.
42:27It doesn't come from scripture.
42:28It contradicts scripture,
42:29and it comes from pagan sources.
42:31Now,
42:32with the thing with Easter,
42:33I will give you that originally at the very,
42:35very,
42:36very beginning,
42:37it was a remembrance of the resurrection,
42:41resurrection day.
42:42It wasn't Easter at that time.
42:44But then,
42:45over the centuries,
42:46various pagan things come into the mix with the Easter celebrations,
42:51and cause the whole Easter thing to become pagan through and through.
42:56Let's look at Hanukkah.
42:57Hanukkah does not come from scripture,
42:59it does not contradict scripture,
43:00and it does not come from a pagan source.
43:03So just like Independence Day,
43:04it's not commanded,
43:05but it's also not prohibited.
43:07Now,
43:07if we've done all these exercises,
43:09let's now take a look at Valentine's Day,
43:12and using the information that we went through during this particular episode,
43:17let's think about it.
43:18Does Valentine's Day come from scripture?
43:20No,
43:21it does not.
43:22Does Valentine's Day contradict scripture?
43:25Not that we can find,
43:26no.
43:28Does Valentine's Day come from pagan sources?
43:31No,
43:32not in our opinion.
43:33And we'll go over that information again here in just a moment,
43:36just to kind of back up that point as well.
43:39So Valentine's Day,
43:41like with Hanukkah and Independence Day,
43:43is one of those great areas that's not commanded,
43:45and it's not prohibited.
43:47So again,
43:48it's up to you.
43:49You do you for your family.
43:51Now,
43:51some of the points that we went over during this particular teaching.
43:55Number one,
43:56Rome was supposedly founded by someone named Romulus,
43:59who was reportedly cared for by a she-wolf named Lupa.
44:04Again,
44:04that could have been a hooker or it could have been an actual wolf,
44:06but it's all myth anyway.
44:09The festival of Lupercalia was celebrated annually on February 15th.
44:15Lupercalia was eventually banned by Pope Galatius in 494 of the Common Era.
44:20There were multiple people named Valentine.
44:24In 496 of the Common Era,
44:26Pope Galatius established February 14th as St.
44:30Valentine's Day as a remembrance and a commemoration of the martyrdom of Valentine,
44:37not as a day for love and romance.
44:39It would be another nearly thousand years before Valentine's Day became associated with love and romance.
44:48Geoffrey Chaucer was the one of the very first ones in 1381 to first associate Valentine's Day with romance and love,
44:57et cetera,
44:58et cetera.
45:00Valentine cards date from the 16th century,
45:02but really became popular and took off in the 18th century,
45:07and especially with the Industrial Revolution.
45:10Chocolate on Valentine's Day started only in the 19th century,
45:14and that was thanks to the Cadbury Company and the Cadbury family,
45:18specifically Richard Cadbury.
45:21Diamonds became a Valentine's tradition only in the middle of the 20th century.
45:24Diamonds associated with Valentine's is less than 100 years old.
45:30The heart shape we know today came from the dissection of reptile hearts
45:35is more associated with the shape of the reptile heart
45:38or the shape of a bird's heart,
45:41not the shape of a human heart.
45:44Cupid was the pagan god formerly known by the Greek name Eros.
45:49Valentine's Day did not replace Luperkelia,
45:53and this is just my interpretation and the way I see it,
45:57and here is why.
45:59Is there syncretism like with Valentine's and Luperkelia,
46:03like there is with Christmas and the pagan festival of Saturnalia
46:07and the winter solstice and Brumalia,
46:10et cetera,
46:10et cetera?
46:11Well,
46:12think about it like this.
46:13Let's go over the historical facts.
46:16Luperkelia was a festival of lust,
46:19carnality,
46:20pagan sacrifices,
46:21and fertility.
46:23Does that sound anything like Valentine's Day?
46:27In today's day and age,
46:28or in a couple hundred years back?
46:32No,
46:32it really doesn't.
46:34In 494,
46:36Luperkelia was banned by,
46:39quote,
46:40Galatians.
46:40And two years later,
46:42in 496,
46:44the commemoration of St.
46:45Valentine and his martyrdom was established on February 14th,
46:50as where Luperkelia was on February 15th.
46:54But even two years after Luperkelia was banned,
46:58when the commemoration of St.
46:59Valentine was established,
47:01there was still no feast,
47:04there was no big celebration,
47:06there was no association with love and romance,
47:08it was just a remembrance of a martyrdom.
47:12Then,
47:12in the 14th century,
47:14some thousand years or so,
47:16after the establishment of Valentine's Day,
47:20or the commemoration of the martyrdom of Valentine,
47:23that is when Valentine's Day first started becoming associated with love and romance.
47:28Then,
47:29in 1969,
47:30Valentine was removed from the general calendar due to lack of reliable information.
47:34So,
47:35I think all this association,
47:37or this legend of love and romance with Valentine,
47:40and all the different stories that you hear,
47:42was actually backdated,
47:44it's anachronistic,
47:45to the actual Valentine that lived back during the first and second centuries,
47:50or third centuries,
47:51I don't think it's actually happened,
47:54it's just legend.
47:56This whole love and romance association with Valentine's Day didn't happen until the 14th century.
48:01That's why I personally do not think that Valentine's Day is another case of syncretism,
48:09like we have with Easter,
48:11or Christmas,
48:11or Sunday,
48:12Sabbath,
48:12et cetera,
48:13et cetera.
48:13This is definitely one,
48:16in my opinion,
48:16that stands out on its own as being non-syncretistic.
48:21And this is a point that we differ with other Messianic ministries,
48:25other Messianic believers,
48:26and that's okay.
48:28We can disagree on things like this.
48:30This is not a salvation issue.
48:32So,
48:32if you believe that Valentine's Day comes from the source of Lupercalia,
48:39that's your interpretation.
48:41But,
48:41personally,
48:43I do not see it that way,
48:45given the facts at hand,
48:47and the history.
48:48So,
48:49take it for what it's worth.
48:50Once again,
48:51like I've said before,
48:52you do you.
48:54Because you're going to be responsible for your decisions,
48:58and if you're a husband or a father,
49:00you're going to be responsible for the decision that you make for your family as well.
49:05And that is just the God honest truth.
49:08So,
49:10thank you for joining us for this teaching on Valentine's Day.
49:13Hopefully,
49:13you got some good information about it.
49:16You learned something that you didn't know before.
49:18We hope that was beneficial for you.
49:20And if you did find something beneficial,
49:22make sure you go down below in the comments,
49:24and let us know what it was that stuck out in your mind,
49:27what it was that really helped you.
49:29Also,
49:30be sure to go down below in the comments and let us know if your opinion on Valentine's Day has changed any,
49:35and what specifically it was that kind of made a light bulb come on in your mind.
49:41After you get done with the comments down there,
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50:06And once again,
50:07before we leave,
50:09I just want to remind everyone that if you want the notes that contain a lot more information about this subject,
50:15you can go to our website at godhonesttruth.com,
50:18click on the post or the article for this particular episode.
50:23There you'll find the on-demand video,
50:25the draw slides,
50:26the notes,
50:26and the transcript if that is so of a benefit to you.
50:31And the easiest way to do that is go down below in the description
50:34and click on that convenient link that we placed down there.
50:37And that should be there whether you're watching on a video platform or an audio podcasting platform.
50:45Thank you for joining us for another production from God Honest Truth Ministries.
50:51We really do appreciate your time and hope that we have been of service to you.
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