A History of Valentines
Ben Ashby
Valentine’s Day is a decidedly handmade celebration. How can it not be when love is so personal, friendships so treasured, and the traditions of the holiday so old, that a simple love note penned from the hand seems a most apropos gesture of the heart?
A STORY BY JEN O’CONNOR
At one point or another, we’ve all ventured to fashion a Valentine card. Bits of construction paper, the frill of a doily, markers, crayons…these are the things of school days’ crafting that have survived memory and time. They’re still present at the most technologically advanced of today’s grammar schools and likewise, in our habits of dashing off a love note festooned with a doodled “heart” or an “x” and an “o”…or two.
We learned early on, the gesture of a simple card is perfect, if the sentiment is true. Valentine’s Day is best celebrated when we're given the excuse to express sweet feelings in a few, well-chosen words, or with the help of a more-clever writer’s imprinted ditty or eloquent dedication.
And while there are a legions of commercially produced Valentines onto which you can add that personal flourish, something given by hand – however simple, charms the recipient. Indeed since Valentine cards predate postal service by centuries, those most traditional among us still hand deliver cards – a gift in themselves -- with envelopes unsealed, simply tucked in as etiquette dictates all hand-delivered correspondence should be.
A Peek at the Sweetest Holiday’s History
While there is little reliable information to confirm one Saint Valentine, the most common of histories describe him as a Roman priest imprisoned and killed for marrying Christian couples. That said, we have acknowledged February 14 as the feast day of “Saint Valentine” since the 1400s. This feast day has grown in fact and fable, history and tale, and has long been associated with the declaration of courtly love.
The first statements of love in honor of Saint Valentine’s Day, were said to be sung or recited and are referred to as poetical or amorous addresses. Handwritten notes emerged in the 1400s with the very first written Valentines attributed to the imprisoned Charles, Duke of Orleans, in 1415. During his time of confinement in the Tower of London, the besotted young Duke passed time writing romantic verses for his wife, far off in France. More than 60 of his heartfelt poems have survived and are preserved among the treasures of the British Museum.
So how did Valentine greetings become tradition in a time when reading and writing, paper and pens were not the things for the common man or woman? Love finds a way. The tradition of putting forth heartfelt sentiments continued as it could among Western Europeans and by the Eighteenth Century exchanging written Valentines was in vogue among the educated and wealthy, and an emerging tradition among those with less means.
Symbols and More
If kisses are the language of love, what then of the language of flowers? Long before the modern tradition of giving that endorphin-raising chocolate as a token of affection, flowers were gifted with style and purpose. A Persian art-form known as the "language of flowers" was brought to Europe by Charles II of Sweden in the 1700s.
Bouquets were exchanged among lovers bearing detailed messages and romantic secrets. Surviving floral dictionaries of the time show the more popular the flower, the more associated with its presence. The red rose –the favorite flower of Venus -- represented romantic love; hundreds of years later we’re continuing this tradition with dozens of red roses delivered as a message of love on Valentine’s Day.
Many also ask where and when the heart emerged as a symbol of the holiday, it’s bright red double fluted shape bearing no resemblance to an actual heart. Indeed, in the late 1700s and early 1800s religious piety appeared even in love notes – referencing the divine’s intervention in pulling two souls and hearts together. It is thought that the "Sacred Heart" of Jesus often depicted on these cards became the "Valentine Heart"; likewise too the angelic seraphim evolved into the more festive and babyish cupid that dons cards today. Folklore even tells of lace-making nuns who turned scissors to paper to make paper lace for the decoration of Valentine cards and thus not only the preponderance of reverent love notions and spiritual dedications of the heart survive, so does the presence of lace at the holiday.
Valentines in America
By the second half of the 19th Century early manufactured Valentines became available and the golden age for artistically layered, lush and sentimental Valentines flourished from 1840-1860. This is owed to Esther Howland, an industrious female entrepreneur who embraced the opportunity to create the first mass-produced, commercially available cards for the holiday after receiving her first Valentine in 1847, the year she graduated Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. Her father was a stationer and she had access to printed papers, perforated lace papers and trims imported from England (where the first mass produced Christmas cards had originated). With the assistance of artistic friends and a shrewd, early application of assembly line techniques, she created an extremely profitable business in greeting cards.
During this time, many emulated her grandly manufactured and stylish cards and chose to hand-make or embellish printed blanks or create their own Valentines with decorative materials like paper laces and ribbons, Dresden trims, honeycombed tissue, watercolors, colored inks, embossed paper hearts and more. Many of these cards can be seen among these pages and are favorites among holiday and ephemera collectors.
By the Victorian era when daily post was available for one cent -- called the "penny post” – Valentine postcards could be mailed to far off sweethearts. Though the tradition of hand-delivered, hand-made cards perpetuated, penny postcards were all the rage and went hand in hand with printing advancements in lithography. Further, from about 1890 through WWI the hobby of collecting and displaying postcards, tradecards and paper follies abounded and served as entertainment in parlors across the country.
By 1920, a Valentine was given or sent by almost everyone.
But, not all of these were sweet, Vinegar Valentines were caustic or sassy in their messages and were a fad, as were “love notes” when manufactured cards were designed for a brief period to resemble currency. These “money” cards were eventually banned – they appeared to infringe on counterfeit laws – but the moniker “love note” remained. That said, the American tradition of exchanging cards was by this time, firmly rooted.
20th Century Traditions
A merrier, festive, and more playful touch emerged as Valentines were factory printed in the 20th Century. By the 1920s – fueled by the penny post and modern production techniques-- oodles of cards – many shown here – were available and so affordable, that cards could be hand delivered to school chums, neighbors and more casual friends.
Of course, more ardent cards were available, but the “packs” of printed cards that are still popular today found a niche and the idea of a secret admirer abounded in the anonymity of pre-printed cards. These early 20th century traditions have perpetuated and remain today as our American tradition.
So as you gather your sweetest thoughts to share with loved ones and friends this Valentine’s Day remember, that a simple, written expression of love and affection is the centuries’ old tradition that’s created the most heartfelt of holidays. And if you make it a handmade holiday…it’s always from the heart.
