ST. VALENTINE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 99, 29 April 1933, Page 10 (Supplement)

ST. VALENTINE.

ANOTHER VANISHING CUSTOM.

ORIGIN OF LOVERS' DAY.

ROMANCE KINGS IN ITS CHANGES. (By THOMAS W. BAKER.) Valentine's Day is a festival which began obscurely hundreds of years ago, developed to a climax of sentimentality during the Victorian age, and then began to wane in popularity, until today the greater number of its longestablished customs are obsolete. Romance is not dead, but its aspect is changed. -No longer does' the postman deliver a delicately scented message of affection to some maiden who stands with wildly beating heart beneath a trellis of roses. No longer does a lovesick swain ponder over suitable phrases to inscribe upon lavishly coloured and gaudily embellished paper. The young man of to-day either ignores the occasion entirely or else confines his observance 'to- a gift of candy or flowers. Thus a festival with which so much romance and sentimentality were associated has capitulated before the exigencies of modern times. For the spirit of the. present is not well expressed upon cards of lavender, trimmed with lace.

The day probably "took its name from a St. Valentine who was martyred in Rome on February 14, A.D., 271. Numerous popular legends, probably with little historic foundation, came to be associated with him.

According to one story, Valentine came to the aid of lovers whose affections were outlawed by an imperial decree forbidding marriage. TII3 Emperor Claudius, who needed many good soldiers to fight in his army, recognised the fact that married men were reluctant to leave their families and go to war. Accordingly he attempted the abolition of domestic ties by forbidding marriage.

But the priest Valentine invited young lovers to come to him, saying he would perform the marriage ceremony in spite of the emperor's orders. When the. ruler heard of this he had Valentine cast into prison, where the "friend of lovers" died.

The Roman youths and maidens set apart the day upon which their benefactor died as a special occasion on which to do him honour. That is the story but it is unautlienticated at present, ,and there seems little likelihood that it ever will be.

There are a number of allusions to St. Valentine's Day in the works of Shakespeare and Chaucer. In his "Midsummer Night's Dream" Shakespeare refers to the tradition that birds choose their mates on Valentine's day. Although the customs associated with Valentine's day originated among the peasants, they soon spread to the upoer classes. It became fashionable to hold parties on that day. The invitations usually were heart-shaped, following a style set by the earliest manufacturers of valentines.

Many schemes of table decoration have been eyolved for valentine parties, hearts, . arrows, and cupids predominating in most of them. •• •

During the reign of Charles 11., it was customary in England for married as well as single people to become one another's valentines. In that case the man was usually called upon to make some gift to the woman, thereby terminating the affair. In some cases it was an expensive privilege to be chosen as a woman's valentine. Samuel Pepys, in his famous diary, speaks thus of the gifts received by a certain Miss Stuart, who became Duchess of Richmond :

"The Duke of York, Toeing once her valentine, did give her a jewel of about 800 pounds; and_ my Lord Manderville, her valentine this year, a ring of about bOO pounds."

This practice of terminating valentine obligations by bestowing a gift prevailed among single as well as married persons, but not all were terminated thu?. In ir.nnv casts the romantic is<r>ciations of Valeii'ite's day inspired -he couple to venture into marriag<?. In a publication dated the middle of the eighteenth century a young woman tells of the customs prevalent at that time, •" ,' . " ' "Last Friday was Valentine s day, she -wrote, "and'the night before I got five bay leaves and pinned four of them to the four corners of my pillow and the fifth to the middle; and then, if I dreamt of my sweetheart, Betty said we should be s married before the year was out. But to make it more sure, I hoiled an egg hard, and'/ took out the yolk and filled it with salt; and, when X went to bed, ato it, .shell and all, "without speaking or drinking after it. We also .wrote our . lovers' names upon bits of paper arid rolled them up in clay, and put them into water; and the first that rose up was to be our valentine." Nineteenth century valentines usually carried some sentimental verse such as this :■ . •

Thy modest mien, thy guileless heart, Have made me ever thine; Love aimed at me, and with his dart Pierced thy true Valentine. 0, happy is the married state. Where hearts-like roses twine! Then take me, dearest, for thy mate, Thy constant Valentine. Another , valentine, which showed Cupid holding a torch in one hand, while with the other lie made gesture of invitation towards a church, carried the following verse:

Cnpid, with his torch on high,' Points to the church, where you ana I Will one day pledge our troth. May we meet no ills to annoy Our wedded life, but all be joy, And happiness attend us both.

The comic valentine eventually was developed as a burlesque on the sentimental missives. This usually consisted of a, grotesque caricature which sometimes was intended to represent the recipient. The valentine which was printed on cheap, coarse paper, also would carry some ribald verse. - Most of these sold for a penny or two. In recent years candy dealers have offered their product for sale in red heart-shaped boxes, and florists have placed heart-shaped floral pieces on display.