Rome, Italy 12/02/2014
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| Saint Valentine |
How a day for lovers came to be celebrated during the middle of
February is an interesting and ages old story. The tradidion traces its origin
in the pre-Christian era.
From paganism to
Chjristian tradition
During the heights of the Roman Empire, a pagan festivity called
the Lupercan Festival in honor of the Roman god of fertility was held towards
the end of winter or at the beginning of spring. During the festivities young men
would get to choose their mate.Marriages at the time was an honored custom and
was ca common occurrence. But Cladius Caesar changed it all. Fearing that men
would refuse their duty to fight because they would not want to leave their
wives behind, he outlawed all marriages. Young couples still fell in love
though and still wished to marry and they took these desires to the Catholic
Bishop Valentine who, understanding love, began to secretly marry couples. When
Claudius found out, he had Valentine arrested and ordered put to death. While
waiting in jail, Valentine began exchanging letters with the jailer's daughter
and soon had fallen in love with her. The day he was to be beheaded, he wrote
her one last note and signed it: "˜From Your Valentine'.
In 496 A.D. Christianity had taken over Rome and Pope Gelasius
outlawed the pagan Lupercian Festival. Knowing it's popularity, he looked to
replace it with something more "˜appropriate' and set aside a day in
February to honor the martyr St. Valentine. Even though in 1969 the church
removed St. Valentines Day from it's calendar of "˜official' holidays, it
is still widely celebrated today.
Why the cards
Valentines Day is perhaps best known for its cards. This is a
custom whose origins could stem from any number of places. One belief is that
the tradition began when St. Valentine himself passed notes to the jailer's
daughter. Another story is that children used to pass notes to St. Valentine
while he was in jail. He was so popular that even after his death the children
still placed noted through the bars in his empty cell. A third story as to the
origin of passing out cards stems from a French Count who was captured and
imprisoned in London. From his cell he wrote his wife letters, including a
passionate set of poems which he sent to her in February. However it truly
started, Valentines Day cards are now sent at the rate of one billion a year,
setting it just behind Christmas as the most popular card sending holiday.
Valentines Day cards have been around in one form or another for hundreds of
years. They became popular in the 1700's as handmade cards made with satin and
ribbon and lace among other fineries. By the early 1800's, commercial
valentines began to appear. Some were so ornate that they cost upwards of ten
dollars. An amazing sum for those times. By the 1840's cards were so intricate
that some had moving parts. Up until the late 1800's, all of the mass-produced
Valentines Day cards were made in England and other European countries.
Consumism and
commercialization
In the early 1870's a 19-year-old American woman named Esther
Howland had the idea to begin producing commercial Valentines Day cards in America.
She started out with three friends and her brother and in assembly line fashion
began producing hand-crafted cards which were shipped around the country. By
the end of the decade she was making over 100,000$ a year. At the turn of the
century, a new form of Valentines Day card appeared the "˜Penny Dreadful'.
Up until this point, cards were relatively expensive but the Penny Dreadful
changed all that. They were just what the name implied, costing only one cent
and completely bad. The cards were cheaply made, the artwork was amateurish and
the coloring was uneven. On top of that the verses printed on them were not the
most romantic of prose. They were more often "˜insults', taking swipes at
old maids, teachers and the like. Still their low cost kept them popular for
years.
The symbolism of
the arrow-pierced heart
Like
many holidays, Valentines Day is a day of symbols. Walking around in the first
few weeks of February, you can't turn a corner without seeing a red rose. The
rose was sacred to Venus who is the Goddess of Love. Another popular symbol of
the day are birds, particularly doves and lovebirds. These are two birds which
mate for life and it was once believed that they choose their mate in the
middle of February. Of course no Valentines Day would be complete without a
multitude of hearts. It was once believed that the heart was the center of all
emotion. People believed that when they gave a heart, they were truly giving
all of the love and emotion that they possibly could give. In the Middle Ages
men would pull a woman's name out of a bowl. This would be the man's Valentine.
To show his devotion, the man would wear the paper containing the woman's name
on his sleeve for a week. This soon became known as "˜wearing your heart
on your sleeve'. And Valentines Day wouldn't be the same without a visit from
Cupid, the winged cherub with a bow and arrow which he uses to place people
into love. The origins of Cupid can be traced back to the days of the Roman
Empire. Cupid is a Roman God, the symbol of passionate love. (He is the son of
Venus, who remember is the Goddess of Love.) Cupid fell madly and completely in
love with Psyche, whom it happened was a mortal. This did not please Venus at
all and she gave Psyche a particularly hard time, consistently tempting her and
driving her off. Eventually, through a small series of human faults, Psyche was
tempted to look into the "˜box of beauty' and when she did, she unleashed
a deep slumber onto herself. Cupid then came to Earth and searched the world
for her. He found her in her deep sleep. His love for her was so strong though
that he was able to take the sleep from her and place it back into the box.
Then he used an arrow to pierce her heart and awaken her.
Cards, candies, roses and kisses
Besides
giving cards, candy and kisses there are some other interesting customs (both
current and past) associated with Valentines Day. For instance, in England
children take to the street, singing songs and passing out cards. In Denmark
people give out pressed white flowers as a sign of their affection. In the
1700's, English women would write the names of men on small pieces of paper and
then roll the paper up inside little balls of clay. They threw the balls into
the water and the first paper that popped to the surface was the one with the
name of the woman's true love. A popular belief is that if a woman goes to a
graveyard and runs around reciting a certain chant, she will see an image of
her true love. A similar idea held over from years past is that on Valentines
Day a woman is to sit by her window. The first available man that walks by is
the one who is destined to marry her.
So as
to not end on a dour note, a Bruskin-Golding study of the holiday discovered
that 3% of all pet owners buy a Valentines Day gift for their pet.
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