132 A Valentine Blog

Hello, dear readers! You guessed a Valentine blog was coming--what else would I be thinking about this week? Ha! First, I do want to acknowledge that I realize that this is a merchandising holiday. Dinner out, flowers, cards, candy, sexy lingerie are some of the “traditional” gifts.

Do you know how it all got started? Yes, Saint Valentine. But why him? Seems there are several versions of the legend. The Catholic Church recognizes three different saints named Valentin, Valentine, or Valentinus. All three were martyred. 

The most popular story is that Emperor Claudius II decided men with wives didn’t want to join his army and so he just outlawed marriage. A priest, Valentine, continued to marry couples in secret. He got caught and was put to death. Before he died, however, he made friends with the jailer’s daughter (some authors say she was blind) and knowing the end was near he sent her a letter about faith and God’s love which he signed “Your Valentine.”

And why the middle of February? Valentine was buried in A.D. 270--likely in February. The Church also wanted to Christianize the pagan festival of Lupercalia--a fertility festival (think both agriculture and sex)--celebrated in mid-February. 

At Lupercalia, the Roman priests would sacrifice a goat, strip its hide, dip pieces into the goat blood, then run around the streets of Rome slapping women with the bloody strips to make them fertile. All these young women blooded by the goat skins put their names in an urn from which the bachelors chose a name and were paired for a year. If said union lasted the year, then they married. (A strange method of arranged marriage to be sure!)

This festival evolved into Valentine’s Day in the 1400s. It was still mid-February as this
was bird-mating season. In the 1415, Charles, Duke of Orleans, was imprisoned in the Tower of London after being captured at the battle of Agincourt. 

King Henry V let the Duke write a farewell love poem to his wife. (Photo courtesy of the BBC Museum) This poem with the line “my very gentle Valentine…” is said to be the first Valentine love poem. (Don’t you just love historical tidbits?) The Duchess, however, never received her “Valentine” as she died before it was delivered. AND the Duke spent 25 years in the Tower.

For the next several hundred years, Christian festivals and religious ceremonies kept Valentine’s Day alive. Then in 1840, a women named Esther Howland began a cottage industry of making Valentine cards to give her friends and then to sell. Intricate, yes, but made from paper, lace, and picture scraps, she made (in today’s money) nearly $100,000. Examine this amazing sample:

Although I love reading greeting cards, I rarely buy them anymore. Not at $3.99 and up for a single card! Nor do I send anyone a dozen long stemmed red roses at $50-60 (twice the non-Valentine price). 

 I do pick up some candy (CVS has a great sale of buy one, get the second ½ off!) 

Before wishing you a very happy Valentine’s Day, here is a sampling of Valentines from Esther Howland through today.

1920s

Victorian 1920s

1940s

Late 1980s

Modern

Hallmark still sells an estimated 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards each year, with 2.5 billion Christmas cards sold. Women purchase 85% of all cards! (I am not surprised.) And, finally, Valentine’s Day is not the #1 day for marriage proposals. Christmas Eve is the winner.

So have a happy day! 

                            Glenne