Cards, flowers and/or chocolates (maybe even your loved one's last Rolo),
with a bit of History on top... What more could one want or even need?
Especially when this extra information on the Valentine's Day tradition is brought to us by Eric V. Allen himself...
Yep, this is the same Eric who recently gave us "A Note From Saint Valentine - A First Person Tale Of This Wonderful Day". With Guest Writers of that caliber, we can't really go wrong, can we?
So, enjoy and... "Happy Valentine's Day!"
Especially when this extra information on the Valentine's Day tradition is brought to us by Eric V. Allen himself...
Yep, this is the same Eric who recently gave us "A Note From Saint Valentine - A First Person Tale Of This Wonderful Day". With Guest Writers of that caliber, we can't really go wrong, can we?
So, enjoy and... "Happy Valentine's Day!"
Loup Dargent
The Origin
Of Giving
Of Giving
Valentine's
Day Cards
Eric V. Allen
Day Cards
Eric V. Allen
Traditionally, mid-February was a Roman time to meet and court
prospective mates. The Lupercian lottery (under penalty of
mortal sin), Roman young men did institute the custom of
offering women they admired and wished to court handwritten
greetings of affection on February 14. The cards acquired St.
Valentine's name.
As Christianity spread, so did the Valentine's Day card. The
earliest extant card was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of
Orleans, to his wife while he was a prisoner in the Tower of
London. It is now in the British Museum.
In the sixteenth century, St. Francis de Sales, bishop of
Geneva, attempted to expunge the custom of cards and reinstate
the lottery of saints' names. He felt that Christians had
become wayward and needed models to emulate. However, this
lottery was less successful and shorter-lived than Pope
Gelasius's. And rather than disappearing, cards proliferated
and became more decorative.
Cupid, the naked cherub armed with arrows dipped in love
potion, beame a popular valentine image. He was associated with
the holiday because in Roman mythology he is the son of Venus,
goddess of love and beauty.
By the seventeenth century, handmade cards were oversized and
elaborate, while store-bought ones were smaller and costly. In
1797, a British publisher issued 'The Young Man's Valentine
Writer', which contained scores of suggested sentimental verses
for the young lover unable to compose his own.
Printers had already begun producing a limited number of cards
with verses and sketches, called "mechanical valentines," and a
reduction in postal rates in the next century ushered in the
less personal but easier practice of mailing valentines. That,
in turn, made it possible for the first time to exchange cards
anonymously, which is taken as the reason for the sudden
appearance of racy verse in an era otherwise prudishly
Victorian.
The burgeoning number of obscene valentines caused several
countries to ban the practice of exchanging cards. In Chicago,
for instance, late in the nineteenth century, the post office
rejected some twenty-five thousand cards on the ground that
they were not fit to be carried through the U.S. mail.
The first American publisher of valentines was printer and
artist Esther Howland. Her elaborate lace cards of the 1870s
cost from five to ten dollars, with some selling for as much as
thirty-five dollars. Since that time, the valentine card
business has flourished. With the exception of Christmas,
Americans exchange more cards on Valentine's Day than at any
other time of the year. Just thinking about it brings memories
of red construction paper, and little boxes of heart candies
About The Author:
prospective mates. The Lupercian lottery (under penalty of
mortal sin), Roman young men did institute the custom of
offering women they admired and wished to court handwritten
greetings of affection on February 14. The cards acquired St.
Valentine's name.
As Christianity spread, so did the Valentine's Day card. The
earliest extant card was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of
Orleans, to his wife while he was a prisoner in the Tower of
London. It is now in the British Museum.
In the sixteenth century, St. Francis de Sales, bishop of
Geneva, attempted to expunge the custom of cards and reinstate
the lottery of saints' names. He felt that Christians had
become wayward and needed models to emulate. However, this
lottery was less successful and shorter-lived than Pope
Gelasius's. And rather than disappearing, cards proliferated
and became more decorative.
Cupid, the naked cherub armed with arrows dipped in love
potion, beame a popular valentine image. He was associated with
the holiday because in Roman mythology he is the son of Venus,
goddess of love and beauty.
By the seventeenth century, handmade cards were oversized and
elaborate, while store-bought ones were smaller and costly. In
1797, a British publisher issued 'The Young Man's Valentine
Writer', which contained scores of suggested sentimental verses
for the young lover unable to compose his own.
Printers had already begun producing a limited number of cards
with verses and sketches, called "mechanical valentines," and a
reduction in postal rates in the next century ushered in the
less personal but easier practice of mailing valentines. That,
in turn, made it possible for the first time to exchange cards
anonymously, which is taken as the reason for the sudden
appearance of racy verse in an era otherwise prudishly
Victorian.
The burgeoning number of obscene valentines caused several
countries to ban the practice of exchanging cards. In Chicago,
for instance, late in the nineteenth century, the post office
rejected some twenty-five thousand cards on the ground that
they were not fit to be carried through the U.S. mail.
The first American publisher of valentines was printer and
artist Esther Howland. Her elaborate lace cards of the 1870s
cost from five to ten dollars, with some selling for as much as
thirty-five dollars. Since that time, the valentine card
business has flourished. With the exception of Christmas,
Americans exchange more cards on Valentine's Day than at any
other time of the year. Just thinking about it brings memories
of red construction paper, and little boxes of heart candies
About The Author:
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