The Valentine’s Day ordeal
Is Valentine’s Day a big deal to you all?
For me, any celebration is special. I would jump on the chance to do something unique every day, so you can imagine how much of enthusiasm would erupt for planning exclusive days like Valentine’s Day.
The most widely accepted story of this day is that Valentine’s Day is named after St. Valentine, a Christian martyr who lived during the Roman Empire. There were multiple martyrs named Valentine, but the most commonly cited one is a priest in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius II in the 3rd century. Claudius II had banned marriages for young men, believing that single men made better soldiers. St. Valentine defied this decree and continued to perform marriages for young couples in secret. Eventually, he was arrested, and according to legend, he sent a love letter to the jailer’s daughter signed “from your Valentine” before his execution on February 14.
Some aspects of Valentine’s Day may also be connected to the Roman festival of Lupercalia, celebrated from February 13 to 15. Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the founders of Rome, Romulus, and Remus. During this festival, young men would draw names of young women from a jar, and they would be paired for the duration of the festival, often leading to marriages.
Whoever St. Valentine was in human form, he enjoyed a wide and varied purview in the afterlife. In addition to watching over love and happy marriages, he was also the patron saint of beekeepers, fainting, travelers, and people with epilepsy.
As Christianity spread, the celebration of Lupercalia was eventually replaced by the Christian feast day honoring St. Valentine. Over time, the holiday evolved into a more romantic celebration, with the exchange of love notes and tokens of affection becoming a central theme.
In the Middle Ages, Valentine’s Day became associated with courtly love, and by the 18th century, it had transformed into a day when couples expressed their love for each other through the exchange of love letters and small gifts.
If you were in the market for a Valentine’s Day card in the mid-19th century, you were probably left choosing from a selection of cheap pieces of paper printed with a rhyme or two. It was in the gap left by this uninspiring offering that 20-year-old Esther Howland spotted an opportunity.
Howland’s family owned a stationery store, and she knew that fancier valentines were available in England. Hypothesizing that American consumers might be equally interested in an up-scale greeting card to mark the occasion, she created some of her own, which featured intricate designs and lace detail. She sold her creations for up to a whopping 75¢ (~$100 today).
Despite the price, her cards were a hit and she soon hired help and expanded her business to become the wildly successful New England Valentine Co.
As spending on Valentine’s gifts continued to rise, chocolate company Cadbury had the innovative idea to offer their chocolates in heart-shaped boxes in 1861. The logic went that, in addition to a sweet gift, the recipient would also end up with a reusable decorative box.
Fortunately for Cadbury, the new boxes were a hit. Unfortunately, the brand hadn’t patented the idea, and the design was soon imitated by any chocolate-maker with a head for business.
Did you think Valentine’s Day always had a positive connotation? NO!
Valentine’s Day cards can be the perfect way to tell someone how you feel, and for the Victorians, those feelings didn’t have to be positive.
In fact, the Victorians delighted, it seems, in sending nasty, anonymous notes that criticized anyone from unwanted suitors to acquaintances and family members with unattractive shortcomings. The notes were appropriately nicknamed “vinegar valentines,” and they often went something like this.
Here’s a pretty cool reception At least you’ll say there’s no deception, it says as plain as it can say, old fellow you’d best stop away.”
If you happen to be out of the country on February 14 this year, your day might look different depending on where you are. In Japan, women are the ones expected to give chocolate gifts (in the U.S., by contrast, men spend twice as much as women on average).
In Norway, women receive poems complete with cryptic clues they must decipher to discover the identity of their suitor. In Italy, chocolate-covered hazelnuts are wrapped in romantic quotes translated into multiple different languages. In South Africa, women eschew mystery in favor of pinning the names of their lovers directly on their shirt sleeves.
So get on out there! Make a card for some one! Take some one out! Make someone’s day special! Happy Valentine’s!