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Love Lotteries and
Origins
The Roman love lotteries happened on February 14th, the eve of the feast
of Lupercalis, when boys drew names of girls to honor Juno, and couples
were formed for the year.
Lupercalia, the Roman feast that took place on February 15th, was a feast
of "lovemaking and licentiousness.
Lupercalia is based on Lupercal, a wolf deity, who was tied to the legend
of Romulus and Remus, Rome's founders who were nursed by a she-wolf.
Young men would tie goat skins around their loins, and run around the
city laughing (a symbol of life), striking young women with goatskin straps
to increase their fertility.
St. Valentine lived under the Roman emperor Claudius II "the Cruel."
Since young men could avoid joining the Roman army by marrying, Claudius
outlawed marriage temporarily. However, Valentine the priest secretly
conducted marriages. Once he was caught and sentenced to death, young
visitors came to him in jail, giving "him flowers and slipping him
notes expressing shared feelings lauding love over war." Rumors that
he fell in love with his jailer's daughter and signed a note "from
your Valentine" were added on, later.
Valentine was stoned and decapitated on February 14 in A.D. 269-the
day devoted to old Roman love lotteries.
All three catholic saints named Valentinus have their festival on February
14th, making it impossible to know which Valentine is THE Saint Valentine.
The Catholic church changed the love lottery to a saint's day lottery,
putting saint's names in the urn, encouraging young people to emulate
the behavior of the saints whose name they pulled.
In the Medieval era, St. Valentine was the saint of emergencies. St.
Valentine became a matchmaker again in the 14th century.
Sources:
Anthony F. Aveni, "February's Holidays: Prediction, Purification,
and Passionate Pursuit" in Book of the Year : A Brief History of
Our Seasonal Holidays. New York : Oxford University Press, 2003.The Catholic
Encyclopaedia, xv. p. 254.
The Catholic Encyclopaedia, xv. p. 254
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Valentine's Day
in Great Britain
The shift from martyr to romantic celebration is due in part to Chaucer's
poem "Parliament of Fowls" which discusses the mating rituals
of birds on Valentine's day.
In the 1600s and 1700s in Britain, Valentine's Day had a lot of folk
traditions: people drew lots to chose their valentine.
Valentine's Day was also a time for fortunetelling and omens. Young
women went into churchyards at midnight looking for omens, or placed hemp
seed or bay leaves under their pillows, hoping for prophetic dreams that
would give hints about the identity of their future husbands.
"Special days for fortunetelling and to discern the identity of
one's future spouse" also included: St. Agnes Eve (January 20), St.
David's Day (March 1), May Eve and May Day, St. Anne's Eve (July 25),
St. Faith's Day (October 6), Halloween, St. Tomas's Eve (December 20)
and New Year's Eve-all times for "love charms and matrimonial divinations."
Among the aristocrats participating in life in the royal court, Valentine's
Day was time to offer poems and extravagant gifts to the loved one.
In Elizabethan England, singles were allowed to send a token of their
affection on Valentine's day.
The custom was "that the first person you saw on leaving your house
that morning would automatically become your valentine.
If you reached mutual agreement on being Valentine's you would exchange
names" on paper strips. Men carried strips in their hatbands while
women wore them in their bodices.
Since Valentine's were supposed to include personal sentiments in verse
forms, and many people were intimidated at the thought of writing poetry,
Valentine Writers-books full of verses that could be altered or copied
became popular.
British Valentine Writer books included titles such as "The Turtle
Dove; or, Cupid's artillery leveled against Human Hearts, Hymen's Revenge
against old Maids, Old Bachelors, and Impertinent Cox-combs."
Valentine's cards were sold in much the same way potions were peddled,
with a touch of magic implied, "COQUETRY cured in ten minutes. PROUD
MAIDENS rendered soft and tender on reasonable terms."
Source:
Anthony F. Aveni, "February's Holidays: Prediction, Purification,
and Passionate Pursuit" in Book of the Year : A Brief History of
Our Seasonal Holidays. New York : Oxford University Press, 2003.
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Valentine's Day
in America
Valentine's Day finally made its transition from an European immigrant's
celebration to a proper American holiday starting in the 1840s.
As more and more commercially available Valentine's Day cards became
available in the US in the 1840s and 1850s (and postage grew cheaper),
hand-made Valentines also grew in number (this period marks the peak of
Valentines collections in the US).
American publishers cribbed liberally from their British counterparts
to produce collections such as "The New Quizzical Valentine Writer"
which appeared in New York in 1823 and seems to be the first American
Valentine's Writer.
Much like today, American publishers took liberties with the titles
of their Valentine Writers, adding words such as "new, original,
improved" regardless of the well-worn content.
Certain vendors tried to extend the season until March 1 allowing for
the receipt and response to Valentine's Day cards with yet more cards-this
may be related to the beginning of the extended Christmas and Easter shopping
seasons.
By 1860, US merchants had managed to transform Valentine's Day into
a holiday where everyone exchanged cards, siblings, friends, aunts and
nephews…
By making Valentine's Day less romantic and more familial, and by focusing
it on women's expectations (both mothers and young girls grew accustomed
to receiving cards), merchants attracted women shoppers and changed American
shopping culture. Where stores were once "an arena where men went
to trade and fraternize" they became "a place where women would
go to shop and browse." In a sense, modern shopping as a feminine
hobby can be tied to Valentine's Day.
Throughout the 1800s, every year brought its own valentine's fad: "satin,
lace, perfumed, and gilt-edged valentines; painted and lithographed valentines;
acrostic and arabesque valentines; cameo or box valentines; mechanical,
cobweb, and banknote valentines; Leap Year valentines…"
Mock Valentines also were a large part of the market, and equal time
was devoted to comic rhymes in the Valentines Writers. In 1858 Harper's
Weekly reported the sales between romantic and mocking valentines as being
split.
Valentine caricatures were particularly popular in the US through the
1840s-a lot of these mock valentines were aimed at women who broke with
societal convention-paralleling the beginning of the women's rights movements
in the 1840s and 1850s.
Every Leap year, women were allowed to make the fist move and send out
Valentine's of their own.
Even in the 1800s, people complained about the commercialization of
sentiments and the loss of sincerity.
By 1930, Valentine's day was the second largest retail spending day after
Christmas in the US.
Sources:
Leigh Eric Schmidt. "The Fashioning of a Modern Holiday: St. Valentine's
Day, 1840-1870." Winterthur Portfolio, Vo. 28, No. 4 (Winter 1993),
209-245.
Anthony F. Aveni, "February's Holidays: Prediction, Purification,
and Passionate Pursuit" in Book of the Year : A Brief History of
Our Seasonal Holidays. New York : Oxford University Press, 2003.
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Love... Cross
Culturally
Why it may be important to pay attention to your honey's cultural background...
While chocolate is considered romantic in American culture, it is a common
cooking ingredient in Mexico, where other sweets have more romantic implications.
Some culture view alcohol as taboo, and giving it to a sweetheart would
be in terrible taste. In the US, wine remains the most romantic alcohol.
In countries where alcohol is prohibited, fruits are seen as passionate,
pomegranates, grapes, and other exotic fruits symbolic of passion and
fertility might be a more appropriate gift.
Don't give red roses in Europe unless you have a romantic relationship
with that person, they are not a casual statement.
Red roses are not seen as romantic in Asia. Red is the color of royalty
there, and flowers are usually given to deities and ancestors, not to
people.
Kissing and physical familiarity are very different from culture to
culture. In Latin America, Russia and Central Asia, same sex affection
(hugging etc.) is no big deal.
Source:
Dean Foster, "Love, Non-American style." Brandweek, Feb. 1,
1999, Vol. 40, Iss. 5, pg: 16.
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Valentine Dates in
History
While imprisoned in the Tower of London, the Duke of Orleans sent what
is considered to be the first Valentine in 1415 to his wife.
In 1537, St. Valentine's Day became an official holiday, as decreed by
England's King Henry VIII.
In the late 1800s, Richard Cadbury devised the first Valentine's Day
candy box.
Hallmark Card Company produced its first Valentine's Day card in 1913.
Arizona is sometimes called the Valentine State because it was admitted
to the Union on February 14, 1912.
Al Capone organized the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. His gang dressed
in police uniforms, entered the office of his rival George Bugs Moran
and gunned him down.
Sources:
"Valentine's Day has long, rich history" Capper's, Feb. 3, 2004,
v126, issue 3, p. 10.
John S. Babbitt. "The First United States 'Love Stamp appeared in
1973." Stamps, February 11, 1995, V250 n7, p. 11.
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Valentine Symbols
and Magic
Middle age lore focused on what bird a woman saw on Valentine's Day.
If a robin flew overhead "she would marry a sailor", if it was
a sparrow, "she'd marry a poor man" but be very happy, and "if
she saw a goldfinch, she'd marry a millionaire."
More middle age lore: if you cut an apple in half and counted the seeds
on Valentine's day, you would get the number of children you were destined
to have.
In the middle ages, men and women drew valentine's names from a bowl
and then wore the name on their sleeves for a week, leading to the expression,
"wearing your heart on your sleeve."
Heart, keys, and keyholes were favorite valentines decorations in Wales,
because they meant, "you unlock my heart."
Flowers became a Valentine's Day gift in the 1600s when a daughter of
Henry IV, king of France, gave a party where each woman received a bouquet
from the man selected as her Valentine.
Source:
Craig Strawser, "Don't forget about your sweetheart." All Hands,
Feb 2003, p. 48.
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Men's view of Valentines
Day
Men believe that the primary purpose is to show caring and affection.
The holiday also exerts emotional pressure: Men know that their partners
are counting on them.
Men really enjoy the specialness of spending time together
Men see Valentine's Day as more of a romantic holiday, whereas women
see it as an opportunity to reinforce all their social relationships,
acknowledging family and friends as well.
Though they might not tell you, Men really love receiving presents on
Valentine's day.
Men don't enjoy spending Valentine's Day alone, and they don't like
the commercial aspects of the holiday, though they do enjoy the emotional
closeness that can come from celebrating the holiday.
Men are most likely to enjoy the day if they are able to celebrate it
in a low-key way.
But they really love the feeling of connection they can share with their
loved one.
For men with sweethearts, what they like least about Valentine's Day
is the feeling of obligation. Men are not the traditional gift givers
in our society (women are) and so they feel the pressure to give something
more intensely.
Men participate in Valentine's Day for three main reasons
1) because they feel obligated by the wider society (all the Valentine
's Day marketing)
2) because they know that they will get rewarded (emotionally and physically)
for their thoughtfulness by their romantic partners
3) because they like making their sweethearts happy.
Even though people usually spend less time and money on gifts for annual
events like birthdays and Christmas than for weddings and anniversaries,
Valentine's Day is an exception because it is so symbolic and nearly exclusively
romantic in its expression.
If it feels complicated to purchase a present for Valentine's Day, it's
because it is complicated. Those buying gifts are making a statement about
themselves, their partners, and the meaning of their relationship-which
is why it takes so much time and thought.
Source:
Cele Otnes, Julie A. Ruth, Constance C. Milbourne, Leo Burnett. "The
Pleasure And Pain Of Being Close: Men's Mixed Feelings about Participation
in Valentine's Day Gift Exchange." Advances In Consumer Research,
Volume 21, 1994:159-164.
Robert Ruginbana, Brett Donahay, Chrisper Neal, Michael Jay Polonsky.
"The Role Of Social Power Relations In Gift Giving on Valentine's
Day." Journal of Consumer Behaviour. Sept. 2003, Vol. 3, Issue 1:
63.
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Valentine's Day Cards
Legend holds that the catholic priest who became St. Valentine (Third
Century A.D.) fell in love with the blind daughter of his jailer in Rome,
cured her blindness and signed his last love letter to her (before his
execution) "From your Valentine"-an expression we still use
today.
Swiss and German immigrants to Pennsylvania were making elaborate Valentines
as early as the 1600, but it took another two hundred years for the custom
to catch on for the rest of America.
By 1847, three million valentines were being sold in the US.
In Worcester, MA, Esther Howland was one of the first hugely successful
mass producers of valentines, making "affordable, sentimental lace-type
valentines" inspired by a lace-paper Valentine someone had sent her
from England.
Circa 1870 in England, Kate Greenaway created mass produced cards that
were the first to feature rose-cheeked children which were very popular
with the Victorian Brits.
In the late 19th Century, Vinegar Valentines were also very popular.
These anonymously sent cards were filled with insults.
Christie's in London holds an annual antique Valentine card auction
every February. Two 100-year old valentines sold for $226 on February
12, 1998. Antique cards are particularly sought by men as an alternative
to traditional gifts like chocolate. Victorian valentines can be worth
up to $1,200 a piece.
The late Henry Uihlein II, heir to the Milwaukee-based Schlitz Brewing
Co. fortune collected some of the rarest valentine's, so-called "sailor
valentines" hand-made in the 1800s by men working on whaling ships
in the Pacific ocean.
There is a National Valentine Collectors Association, based in Santa
Ana, CA.
Sources:
Herrick, Robert, "Valentines from the Past", Biblio, Feb. 1998,
p. 36.
Kinsella, Eileen. "Trends: Antique Valentines: Love Letters for Collectors."
The Wall Street Journal, 13 February 1998.
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Valentine's Day
Trivia
What is the traditional Valentine's day flower? Violets.
One of the reasons red roses are so popular is because many men don't
know that much about other flowers.
Women are catching up to men in their flower purchases on Valentine's
day. Though women buy most of the flowers the rest of the year.
One of the reasons we think February is a month of romance is because
both French and Germans noticed that it was the beginning of bird's mating
seasons.
For florists, Valentine's night is time to treat their hands which have
been bruised and cut by rose thorns, and soak exhausted feet. Valentine's
Day preparations can start as early as January when florists start prepping
for their busiest holiday of the year.
Who performed the 1961 hit song "Cupid?" Sam Cooke.
How many states in the US have a town named Valentine? Three. Texas,
Arizona, and Nebraska.
Men are more likely to buy daring romantic gifts for Valentine's day
than for Christmas.
The Japanese like Valentine's day so much they've created another one.
On March 14th, women can give presents to men.
Romantic postmarks in the US include: "Loveland, CO; Bridal Veil,
OR; Romance, AR or IN; Loving, NM or Valentine, NE or TX."
Sources:
Lonsford, Michael, "Valentine's Day trivia quiz bubbles over"
Houston Chronicle, 14 February 1990. (Based on the Mumm Champagne Valentine's
Day trivia quiz).
Luke, Alan. "How do I love Othee?" The Toronto Star, 14 Feb
1993.Swiech, Paul. "Love is a business on Valentine's Day."
The Pantagraph, Bloomington, IL, 12 February 1995.
Anthony F. Aveni, "February's Holidays: Prediction, Purification,
and Passionate Pursuit" in Book of the Year : A Brief History of
Our Seasonal Holidays. New York : Oxford University Press, 2003.
John S. Babbitt. "The First United States 'Love Stamp appeared in
1973." Stamps, February 11, 1995, V250 n7, p. 11.
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Collectible
Valentines: Info about Basic Types
Collectors divide collectible valentines into the following types:
Folk Art Valentines that are handmade. These American valentines date
from the 1600 and include the Theorem style, which uses stencil transfer
and is finished with watercolors.
Pennsylvania German and Swiss folk art includes Scherenschnitte, "paper
pictures carefully cut with scissors" that are hand assembled in
multi-layered collages.
Pennsylvania Germans also incorporated "Fraktur as well as pin pricking
techniques into their cut work." Fraktur is a type of calligraphy
that breaks each letter horizontally. Fraktur work from 1580 to 1750 was
sometimes derived from French Swiss, English, and German textile pattern
books.
Pin pricking paper was done by immigrants using "different widths
of needs and pins" to create designs in the paper.
Polish immigrants cut paper in a style called Wycinanki, which represented
religious and cultural holidays, and was "displayed on windows and
walls."
Other forms of folk valentines include:
Love tokens, which can take multiple forms: "paperweights, gloves,
thimbles;
Puzzle valentines folded envelopes with decorated flaps, which usually
held a prize inside;
Watch papers--valentines which could pit in pocket watch cases;
Ribbon valentines, multiple pieces of paper strung with differently colored
ribbons-each piece of paper has a question, and each ribbon represents
an answer-the valentine receiver would answer by picking one ribbon and
returning it to the giver.
Sources:
Written and researched by Sylvie Beauvais, Philadelphia, PA.
Adapted from Katherin Kreider. Valentines with Values. "Chapter I,
Folk Art Valentines: Handmade."Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 1996.
(pp. 8-11)
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Golden Age of Valentines
in the US: 1840s-1890s
For collectors, the golden age of Valentines is from 1840s to the 1890s
when valentines were assembled from pre-manufactured pieces by hand.
Esther Howland, one of the first mass-market producers of hand-assembled
valentines, incorporated the use of the paper spring, which gave three-dimensional
depth to valentines. The spring was a piece of accordion-folded paper
that attached the different layers of the valentine.
These detailed hand-assembled valentines included elements such as paper
lace, hand cut and colored paper flowers, hand-colored lithographs, daguerreotypes,
gauze, copperplate engravings, wood block prints, gilding and Victorian
scraps-small decorative lithographed colored elements that could be pasted
into place-usually "flowers, children, baskets, wreaths, trellises,
etc."
You can identify the manufacturers of these old valentines by their
embossed marks or watermarks-be sure to look through a magnifying glass.
Many of Esther Howland's valentines have a red H on them.
The industrially-made valentines that were produced starting in the
1840s are sometimes referred to as "choked to death" valentines
because they were made with cheaper elements and decorated with "knots,
ribbons and bows."
Very high-end valentines could cost as much as $50 in the 1850s-at auction
these antiques can go for thousands of dollars.
Since valentines were sold as thematic sets, collectors treasure valentines
which still have their original envelope.
Sources:
Written and researched by Sylvie Beauvais, Philadelphia, PA
Adapted from Katherin Kreider. Valentines with Values. "Chapter II,
The Golden Age: Put Together by Hand." Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing,
1996. (pp. 8-11)
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Dimensional
Valentines Cards
Dimensional valentines have parts that pull out or pop up. These cards
are distinct from mechanical valentines, which are controlled by tabs
or other things the viewer must pull or manipulate for parts to move.
By collectors' standards, dimensional valentines were made from the
end of the nineteenth century to the 1930s.
Dimensional cards include the honey comb paper puffs, accordion-folded
tissue paper which looks like a honeycomb when it is unfolded (some modern
paper garlands use this technology.) This ornamental detail was most popular
in the US in the 1920s.
Here's a trick for diagnosing the original color of a honey-comb paper
puff in a valentine-check the center of the honeycomb, which is the area
least affected by light, it will reveal the original color of the tissue
paper. Collectors often hope for red, but the most popular color of honeycomb
paper was dusty peach.
When you see a lithographed valentine, take the time to consider that
the illustrator had to write and draw the message and illustrations in
reverse handwriting so the card would print properly.
Lithography, which used only one color on an engraved stone, was eventually
replaced by chromolithography, which allowed manufacturers to use multiple
colors by using several stones, each covered in one color.
Even though they are not the oldest valentines, dimensional valentines
are currently popular and now cost a pretty penny, from hundreds to thousands
of dollars, depending on their condition.
Sources:
Written and researched by Sylvie Beauvais, Philadelphia, PA
Adapted from Katherin Kreider. Valentines with Values. "Chapter III,
Dimensional Valentines." Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 1996. (pp.
39-43)
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Valentine's Day
and Retail Sales in the US
Some retailers will put together high-end luxury packages, such as
Neiman Marcus' "Ultimate Engaging Valentine" which cost $35,000
in 1997.
Half a billion dollars worth of roses are sold Valentine's week.
$1.7 billion dollars will be spent on Valentines candy in 2005, the
fourth largest candy holiday after Halloween, Easter, and Christmas
Nearly a billion U.S. dollars were spent on Valentine's Day cards alone
in 2005. Only at Christmas are more cards sent out.
The Valentine's holiday accounts for 33% of all holiday flower sales.
Gift cards are the up and coming Valentine's gift.
Should your mail-order flowers wilt the next day, the recipient should
be candid and the sender should get a free replacement bouquet from the
florist.
Where do our roses come from? South America, via Miami. Lore has it
that the Latin American roses have bigger buds, but domestic roses smell
sweeter.
Novelty items include flowers dipped in 24k gold and Cartier's screw-motif
love bracelet, which comes with a screwdriver so you can latch it.
Planning to buy chocolate? You can do so a few weeks ahead of time,
just store the chocolate in your vegetable bin (this assumes that it is
well sealed and that you won't nibble.)
Catalogers depend on valentine's sales and mail out valentine's editions
in January. Many cataloguers are seeing their sales boom on the internet-See's
Candies sent out half a million catalogs in 2001 and got a 17% boost in
internet sales.
Omaha Steaks also benefits from the romantic holiday, selling more and
more complete mail order meals, instead of single steaks.
Sources:
Written and researched by Sylvie Beauvais, Philadelphia, PA
Adapted from William Giese, "Love and Money" Shopping Smart,
Vol. 51, No. 2 (February 1997), p. 130; and "Catalogers Aglow over
Valentine's Sales" Catalog Age, March 15, 2001; and "Valentine's
Day Slated as Major retail Holiday" Gourmetretailer.com, February
4, 2005.
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Valentine's Day
Abroad
In 2004, officials in the Chinese city of Tianjin cancelled a supermarket
kissing contest planned for Valentine's Day. They decided to hold a love
song contest at the "Everybody is Happy Supermarket" instead.
The city was deemed too conservative for a longest-kiss contest.
Conservative members of the Hindu party Shiv Sena in India put on demonstrations
to burn Valentine's Day cards in 2003, finding the holiday "obscene."
The party asked the government to ban Valentine's Day because it is an
assault on Indian values. Despite the concerns, supermarkets across India
kept Valentine cards in stock.
In England, Londoners are the most likely to send Valentine's Cards
Cadbury, the British Chocolate company, uses the Milk Tray "Man
in Black"-this advertising James Bond-type hero goes on secret missions
to deliver chocolates and stays with the ladies to enjoy the rewards of
his gift. American advertisers prefer to stick to less provocative sentiments.
The British tradition is that a man takes out his mistress on February
13th and his wife on February 14th.
Despite grumbles of American cultural corruption, Poland is celebrating
Valentine's day more and more
In Japan, women buy giri choco or "obligation chocolates"
for their co-workers for Valentine's Day, and a month later, on "White
Day" male co-workers are expected to give gifts back. Since these
polite chocolates are a boon to retailers, it's a commercial disaster
when Valentine's Day falls on a weekend-giri choco purchases plummet.
Whereas the US gets its roses from South America, India sends its roses
to Holland, Japan, China, Singapore and Italy
Sources:
Written and researched by Sylvie Beauvais, Philadelphia, PA
Adapted from Parul Gupta "Indian hardliners fail to blunt cupid's
arrow for Valentine's Day" Agence France Presse, February 13, 2003;
"Chinese officials cancel Valentine's kissing contest after controversy"
Agence France Presse, February 13, 2004; Naoko Nakamae and Olivia Jensen
"Japanese consumers start to reign in the giving" Financial
Times, March 15, 1999; Jon Rees, "Advertising & Marketing: What's
the price of love?" Sunday Business, February 13, 2000
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