Be mine
Don Coldsmith
Monday, February 12, 2007
THOUGH IT IS the shortest month of the year, February is certainly the busiest. We observe the birthdays of presidents and many other cultures and civilizations have observed this month for a variety of celebrations.
The Romans celebrated the feast day of Lupercalia, a lovers’ festival. Eligible young men and women chose partners by drawing names from a box. They would then exchange gifts. They remained together for the duration of the festival, and sometimes, after. I’m not certain just how intimate this relationship was, but an old encyclopedia states that “They usually continued to enjoy one another’s company long after festival. Many such courtships ended in marriage.”
This sounds much like a sort of trial marriage, which would be unacceptable to Christianity, of course. In the year 496, Pope Gelasius changed the Lupercalia festival to Saint Valentine’s Day and the date from February 15 to a day earlier, February 14.
Apparently there were at least two St. Valetine’s. One was a priest who lived during the reign of Emperor Claudius II. He was jailed for aiding persecuted Christians and was beheaded about 270 AD. Ironically, this occurred on Palatine Hill, the site of an ancient altar to Juno, goddess of love!
The other St. Valentine was a bishop of Terni, a city about 60 miles from Rome. He, too, was beheaded, about 273 AD. His crime, apparently, was that of convincing a Roman family to convert to Christianity.
From there, there seems to be a historic gap in recognition of Valentine’s Day. The occasion is noted in England about 1446. The custom had reverted to the drawing of names to choose partners, but apparently not with the serious or long-lasting intent of early Lupercalia. By 1700, Valentine’s Day parties were noted in England. The custom of drawing names had advanced to include a rather odd quirk. The names were drawn and the young man would pin the paper with his partner’s name to his sleeve — thus, the expression, “wearing his heart on his sleeve.”
Various symbols came to be associated with Valentine’s Day, such as fat cupids with bows and arrows which pierced hearts. There were vague references to Juno, goddess of women, love and marriage. Intricate artistic valentine cards of the 1800s in this country often utilized items of beauty, such as satin ribbons, lace trimmings, feathers, imitation jewels, seashells, dried flowers and decorative dried seaweed. Some of these valentines became works of art and are cherished by collectors.
At about the time of our Civil War, this occasion seems to have become very important to Americans. One magazine writer is quoted. “Indeed, with the exception of Christmas, there is no festival throughout the world which is invested with half the interest belonging to this cherished anniversary.”
Comic valentines appeared at about the same time, poking fun at the potential lovers.
In other countries, there are wide variances in customs and beliefs, usually associated with love and marriage. Birds, it was said, choose their mates on February 14. Even some local areas have customs which have originated there. In Sicily, for instance, some young unmarried women make it a point to get up early and watch out the window on Valentine’s Day. Legend says that the first man she sees, or someone who looks like him, will be the man she marries, probably within a year. Some of these customs, obviously, do not fit well into modern living.
In more recent times, there have been comedy cards, designed to be humorous but insulting to the recipient. A few generations ago, elementary school classes began to exchange cards, leading to such problems as hurt feelings over who received the most or fewest cards. Capable elementary teachers could use the occasion to point out that it was a thoughtful thing to not play favorites, which might easily hurt a lot of feelings.
It becomes obvious that the awakening of spring causes a romantic awakening among humans. As the old saying goes, “In the spring, a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” Obviously, a young woman’s fancy, too.
See you down the road.
Author and columnist Don Coldsmith lives in Emporia.