Valentine's Day is just around the corner. Monday, Feb. 14, to be exact - the busiest day of the year for local florists. While you are dashing around looking for that last-minute Valentine gift, or busily selecting just the right card for that special person in your life, let me remind you that you are perpetuating an age-old tradition going all the way back to ancient Rome.
Feb. 15 marked the feast of Lupercalia, when Roman maidens placed their seals, tied with a lover's knot, in a box from which the young men would select at random, thereby choosing their mates for the following year.
There is also an ancient legend about two Roman martyrs, early Christians, in the third century - both of whom happened to be named St. Valentine. One cured the blindness of his jailer's daughter, leaving her a farewell note signed "from your Valentine" before going to his death. The early Christian Church later designated Feb. 14 St. Valentine's Day in honor of him. Legend has it that Feb. 14 was the day the birds chose their mates and started building their nests, so it became the official day dedicated to all true lovers. On that day your sweetheart became your valentine. The drawing of lots continued; messages and gifts tied with lover's knots were exchanged. Through the ages, young gallants wrote verses and sonnets to their ladies.
There are many references to Valentine's Day both in history and in literature. Shakespeare makes references to it in "Hamlet" with Ophelia's speech:
To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Samuel Pepys, the famous 17th-century English diarist, recorded for Feb. 14 spending 21 shillings for a pair of gloves for Mrs. Pepys' Valentine gift.
In the 1700s when young gallants became too busy to compose, write and deliver valentine messages, valentine cards were born, starting a thriving industry in England. The first valentine card on record this side of the Atlantic arrived from England in 1684; it was hand-painted, of Pennsylvania Dutch design, and the sentiments written in old German script. A century later there were valentines passing between lovers along the Eastern Seaboard.
In Victorian England, valentine cards grew more and more opulent, like everything else of that period. Cards were decorated with wax, fruit, feathers and flowers, pop-outs and paste-ups. Late-Victorian times saw the debut of the comic valentine, the first specimens of which were not comic but downright cruel: making fun of overweight, underfed and all sorts of physically challenged folk with nasty remarks. The inscriptions were far from romantic. In this period a lot of valentine cards were sent anonymously.
During the Edwardian era there were many valentines with voluptuous images of ladies in big hats and bloomers, of the Gibson girl variety, with saucy messages. During the First World War, valentines took on a more military appearance with sentimental verses from your soldier-boy. From that time on, valentine cards have developed in infinite variety, creating an ideal source for collectors of folk art, giving a whole new name - ephemera - to the collection of greeting cards and postcards.
So don't forget your valentine on Monday. Send a card, send some flowers or, better still, serve breakfast in bed and do the dishes! Happy Valentine's! TTFN.
[[In-content Ad]]
