Valentine's Day

by: Imam Kashif Aziz

As we all know that Valentine's Day is a special day observed on Feb 14. On this day people send greeting cards called Valentines to their lovers, friends and members of their family.

Now, let us take a look at what is the history of Valentine’s Day. World Book Encyclopedia states that different authorities believe Valentine’s Day began in various ways. Some trace it to an ancient roman festival called Luperclia. The ancient Romans had the festival of Lupercalia from Feb. 13th to 15th to honor the god Lupercus. The main attraction of this festival was to hold a lottery to distribute young women to young men for entertainment and pleasure until the next year's lottery. Another despicable practice associated with this day was that young men struck people with strips of animal hide. Women took the blows because they thought that the whipping made them more fertile. Christianity tried, without success, to stop the evil celebration of Lupercalia. It replaced the lottery of the names of women with a lottery of the names of the saints. The idea was that during the following year the young men would emulate the life of the saint whose name they had drawn.