Valentine’s Day, also called Saint Valentine’s Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, originated as a Christian feast day honouring a martyr named Valentine.
In Ancient Rome, the feast of Lupercalia was observed February 13–15 on behalf of Pan & Juno, pagan gods of love, marriage & fertility. However the celebration of Saint Valentine is not known to have had any firmly established romantic connotations until Chaucer‘s poetry about “Valentine’s Day” in the 14th century, some seven hundred years after celebrations of Lupercalia are believed to have ceased.
In Chaucer’s the Parliament of Fowls (1382) a dream vision portraying a parliament for birds to choose their mates honoured the first anniversary of the engagement of fifteen-year-old King Richard II of England to fifteen-year-old Anne of Bohemia. Chaucer wrote (in Middle English):
“For this was on seynt Valentynes day
Chaucer, The Parliament of fowls
Whan every foul cometh there to chese his make”
Chaucer’s Parliament of Fowls refers to a supposedly established tradition, but there is no clear record of such a tradition before Chaucer although the idea that Valentine’s Day customs perpetuated those of the Roman Lupercalia has been accepted and often repeated without definitive evidence.
Another early description of 14 February as an annual celebration of love appears in the Charter of the Court of Love. Allegedly issued by Charles VI of France at Mantes-la-Jolie in 1400, it describes lavish festivities to be attended by several members of the royal court, including a feast, amorous song and poetry competitions, jousting and dancing. Amid these festivities, the attending ladies would hear and rule on disputes from lovers.
Valentine’s Day is also mentioned somewhat ruefully by Ophelia in William Shakespeare‘s Hamlet (1600–1601):
To-morrow is Saint Valentine’s day,
William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose, and donn’d his clothes,
And dupp’d the chamber-door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.
Roses are red
The verse “Roses are red” echoes conventions traceable as far back as Edmund Spenser‘s epic The Faerie Queene (1590):
She bath’d with roses red, and violets blew,
And all the sweetest flowres [sic], that in the forrest grew.
Later the modern cliché Valentine’s Day poem can be found in Gammer Gurton’s Garland (1784), a collection of English nursery rhymes published in London by Joseph Johnson:
The rose is red, the violet’s blue,
The honey’s sweet, and so are you.
Thou art my love and I am thine;
I drew thee to my Valentine:
The lot was cast and then I drew,
And Fortune said it shou’d be you.
By the early 19th century, paper valentines were becoming increasingly popular and were often made with real lace and ribbons. In 1835, 60,000 Valentine cards were sent by post in the United Kingdom, despite postage being expensive. A reduction in postal rates following Sir Rowland Hill‘s postal reforms with the 1840 invention of the postage stamp (Penny Black) saw the number of Valentines posted increase, with 400,000 sent just one year after its invention, and this ushered in the less personal but easier practice of mailing Valentines. That made it possible for the first time to exchange cards anonymously, which is maybe the reason for the sudden appearance of racy verse in the (allegedly) otherwise prudishly Victorian era.
Since the 19th century, handmade cards have given way to mass-produced greeting cards. In the UK, just under half of the population spend money on their Valentines, and about £1 billion is spent each year on cards, flowers, chocolates, and other gifts. The mid-19th century Valentine’s Day trade was a harbinger of further commercialized holidays in the U.S. to follow.
Love and Chocolate
Chocolate contains the chemicals phenylethylamine and serotonin, which are thought to be mood boosters and mild sexual stimulants. Eating chocolate can make you feel good, even ‘euphoric.’ In 1868, the British chocolate company Cadbury created Fancy Boxes – a decorated box of chocolates – in the shape of a heart for Valentine’s Day. Boxes of filled chocolates quickly became associated with the holiday. In the second half of the 20th century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manner of gifts, such as giving jewellery.
The US Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately 190 million Valentines are sent each year in the US. Half of those Valentines are given to family members other than husband or wife, usually to children. When the Valentine-exchange cards made in school activities are included the figure goes up to 1 billion, and teachers become the people receiving the most valentines. The average Valentine’s Day spending has increased every year in the U.S., from $108 a person in 2010 to $131 in 2013. Valentine’s day is big, big business!
The rise of internet popularity at the turn of the millennium is creating new traditions. Millions of people use, every year, digital means of creating and sending Valentine’s Day greeting messages such as e-cards, love coupons or printable greeting cards. Valentine’s Day is considered by some to be a Hallmark holiday due to its commercialization.
The tradition of Valentine’s cards and gifts has spread around the world and crops up all over Europe as well as Japan, Africa and South America. However the celebration of Valentine’s Day has been banned in some countries including Iran where although Valentine’s Day is not accepted or approved by any institution and has no official status, it is still participated in by a large part of the population.
Love conquers all!
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