The History of Valentines Day
and giving Candy and Sweets

 

First A Brief History of How the Valentine Celebration Began	Roman Pagan Fertility Celebration. around 400. BC.......

The origins of Valentine's Day trace back to the 4th century BC with the ancient Roman celebration of Lupercalia. Held on February 15, Lupercalia honored the gods Lupercus and Faunus, as well as the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.

In addition to a bountiful feast, Lupercalia festivities are purported to have included the pairing of young women and men. Men would draw women's names from a box, and each couple would be paired until next year's celebration. This is one theory for the lottery.The Roman emporer Claudius 11 banned marriage because young men wouldn't sign up for the army. He instituted this lottery so a man could have a partner for the yea

More about Lupercalia

Who was St. Valentines? It wasn't called "Valentine's Day" until a priest named Valentine came along. Valentine, a romantic at heart, disobeyed Emperor Claudius II's decree that soldiers remain bachelors.Claudius handed down this decree believing that soldiers would be distracted and unable to concentrate on fighting if they were married or engaged.

 

Valentine defied the emperor and secretly performed marriage ceremonies. As a result of his defiance, Valentine was put to death on February 14. After Valentine's death, he was named a saint. As Christianity spread through Rome, the priests moved Lupercalia from February 15 to February 14 and renamed it St. Valentine's Day to honor Saint Valentine

 

How did Valentines Cards and the giving of Gifts Start?

 

 Believing that birds began to mate on February 14, people in the Middle Ages started the card tradition by sending love letters on that day.

 In the 15th century, singing and spoken valentines were slowly replaced by written letters in Europe. The first written valentine is credited to Charles, the Duke of Orleans, who wrote love poems to his wife while he was in prison in 1415. By the beginning of the 16th century, valentines were almost always written.

 Early valentines were hand made on colored paper. Often they were tinted with water colors and inks. Other types of valentines found during this era were:

- Acrostic - the first line of the verses spelled out the recipient's name
- Cutout - the paper was folded and cut into a lace-like design using small, pointed scissors.
- Pinprick - using a pin or needle, tiny holes were punched in the paper to make it look like lace.
- Theorem or Poonah - a stencil was used to help paint on designs that stood for words. For example, the word foot would be replaced by a picture of a foot.
- Puzzle Purse - the paper was a folded puzzle with verses written in the folds. Each verse must be read in a specific order and the puzzle refolded correctly.
- Fraktur - the letters were written in a decorative style to imitate the illuminated manuscripts used in the Middle Ages.

      The 1800s saw valentines made by factory workers. Black and white pictures were painted by the workers in the early part of the century. By the end of the 1800s, the cards were made by machines. These cards were elaborately decorated with gold leaf, satin, lace and flowers.
       In 1840, the first mass produced valentine's cards where made in America. Esther Howland, who sold $5,000 worth of the cards in her first year, created them.

Did You Know?
- In the United States over 1 billion valentine cards are sent each year.
- Valentine's Day is celebrated in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia.
- Parents get 1 out of every 5 valentines.
- Women buy 85% of all valentines.

 

 

Here are some books I recommend

These are books I always keep at hand