The ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, celebrated on February 15 with festivities beginning the evening before on February 14, was a sensuous event of idolatrous worship honoring Lupercus, the deified hero-hunter of wolves. This festival encouraged young people to indulge in licentious acts of sexual immorality. During Lupercalia, after the sacrifice of goats and a dog, priests known as Luperci, dressed only in goatskin girdles, split into two bands and ran a marked course around the city, striking women with strips of goatskin called februa, believed to remove infertility. The term februa relates to februare, meaning to purify, thus naming the day Februatus and the month Februarius. Lupercalia was also connected to the legendary she-wolf who suckled Remus and Romulus, the traditional founders of Rome, and in Roman slang, wolf referred to a sexually available woman, linking the day to Venus, the goddess of sexual love, and her son Cupid, central figures in this feast of lust. Roman mythology attributed to them the power to instill or cease sexual passion, often depicted with Cupid shooting arrows into the hearts of victims. Due to its immense popularity, Roman church leaders in the fifth century AD included Lupercalia in the church's liturgical calendar, renaming it Saint Valentine's Day in AD 496 under Pope Gelasius, shifting the observance to February 14 and attempting to infuse a more Christian element by focusing on saints instead of pagan deities, though the festival retained much of its original character.

Lupercalia forms the historical foundation from which Valentine's Day directly descends, a fact confirmed by multiple encyclopedic sources describing it as an ancient Roman fertility rite held each February 15 in honor of the pastoral god Lupercus. During this observance, goats and a dog were sacrificed, goat's blood was smeared on young men's foreheads and wiped away with wool dipped in milk, and men clad only in goatskins ran about striking women with strips of the hide—an act supposedly intended to ease childbirth and promote fertility. The very name of the month February derives from this ritual, tracing to the Latin februaue, meaning "to purify," since the festival also functioned as a feast of purification, with the whipping thongs themselves called februa. Lupercus himself connects to a broader chain of pagan deities: he was linked to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture and fertility, who corresponds to the Greek Pan, both depicted with goat-like features. Pan traces back to the Phoenician sun god Baal, who can be identified with Nimrod, the mighty hunter of Genesis 10:9. Since Nimrod reportedly hunted wolves as far as Italy, and since Lupercus means "wolf-hunter," the connection solidifies. Even the word "Valentine," from the Latin valens ("strong, powerful, mighty"), fittingly describes Nimrod, making him, in effect, the original valentine. Cupid, too, fits into this lineage—mythologically known as Ninus, "the Son" of Venus, with Ninus being identified as Nimrod, while Venus corresponds to Semiramis, the biblical Ashtoreth, tying the whole festival to themes of fertility and sexuality rather than genuine affection. The shift of the observance from February 15 to the 14th is explained two ways: ancient reckoning began days at sunset, so festivities naturally started the evening before, and Pope Gelasius formally moved the date in AD 496, associating it with an obscure martyr named Valentine supposedly executed on February 14, AD 269—an apparent attempt by the Catholic Church to disguise a licentious pagan festival with a somber, Christian-sounding origin. The date of February 15 itself connects back to Nimrod's purported winter-solstice birth, since forty days after a January 6 solstice (as reckoned in the twenty-first century BC) lands precisely on February 15, aligning with ancient purification customs for new mothers. Two remaining Valentine customs stem from Lupercalia: the drawing of women's names by men, which evolved into exchanging valentines, and the association of the color red, which the material ties to biblical imagery of sin, scarlet, harlotry, and Babylon (Isaiah 1:18; Ezekiel 23:14-15; Revelation 17:4). Altogether, Lupercalia is presented as the pagan root exposing Valentine's Day as having no redeeming value, urging separation from such Babylonian customs in line with Revelation 18:4.

Lupercalia stands at the historical root of what became known as Saint Valentine's Day, illustrating how a pagan Roman festival was absorbed into professing Christianity and continues to shape a widely accepted holiday. The Roman god Lupercus, deified as a hero-hunter of wolves, shares the same origin as the Greek god Pan and was called Bal or Baal by the Phoenicians and Semites. This deity is identified with Nimrod, the mighty hunter, whose birth was believed to occur on January 6, with his mother's purification observed forty days later on February 15—the very date pagan Rome celebrated Lupercalia, beginning the evening before on February 14. Nimrod, described in secular history as a vicious murderer and abuser of women, embodied a dichotomy: a "saint" who stood entirely against God's way of love. The Lupercalia festival itself was a sensuous celebration that encouraged young people to indulge in licentious sexual acts. Its rites included the sacrifice of goats and a dog, followed by priests called Luperci running in two bands around the city, scantily dressed in goatskin girdles, striking women with goat-skin strips called februa (from februare, meaning "to purify") to remove infertility—giving rise to the terms Februatus and Februarius. The festival became linked to the legendary she-wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus, since lupus means wolf in Latin, and "wolf" was Roman slang for a sexually available woman. This connection tied the day to Venus, goddess of sexual love, and to her son Cupid, believed capable of instilling or extinguishing passion—imagery still seen today in Valentine cards depicting winged, arrow-shooting cupids. Due to its immense popularity among the pagan Roman citizenry, Roman church leaders in the fifth century incorporated Lupercalia into the church rather than lose converts, retaining most elements except the more extreme sensual practices. In AD 496, Pope Gelasius officially renamed the festival Saint Valentine's Day and shifted its observance from the 15th to the 14th of February, redirecting attention toward Christian saints while people still drew lots—now bearing saints' names instead of potential lovers. When Protestants later rejected the veneration of saints, the festival reverted to its original form: people again drew names of ordinary men and women as partners, Cupid and arrowed hearts remained, and the day stayed as pagan as ever, since saints and Christianity had never truly become central to it. This history exemplifies the broader pattern of syncretism—blending pagan customs with Christian identity to ease mass conversion—seen also in holidays like Groundhog Day, May Day, Halloween, and birthday celebrations. Scripture, particularly Deuteronomy 12:29-31 and 1 Corinthians 10:19-21, warns against mixing pagan worship practices with true worship of God, equating such syncretism with fellowship with demons. True worship, as Jesus taught, must be in spirit and truth, not in flesh and lust, making participation in Valentine's Day incompatible with a Christian's calling to glorify God in all things.