St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1907-02-23

:: :: !: :: !: ::
1N0EANH popular, IL IS observed
SI1 NS SWANS a legion make /
R III T the occasion for sendini
@lGsfH tokens to their lad
dySSS loves, yet not many know
why.
A everybody knows wha
Christmas means, or In
aependenee day, Thanksgiving day
raster, bat the origin of st. Valen
t1ne's day. or even its meaning. is ,
rode but few have solved. 81.
1t is one of the Oldest of the hoIi
days. Only Christmas and Easter q
.urther back into antiquity. These
Gays have been observed ever since
tnere was religion. But all the res
oL Inc holidays are but infants beside
the February occasion when belaced
Defringed and bedowered love tokens
are sent on their sentimental Jour
neys. h D~
st. Valentines day began some
where about the opening of the third
century. ut is a quaint combination
Oh religion and sentiment. It repre-
SCENTS the dual worship of a great
man of the church and cupid. the mis-
ch1eVous patron and saint of love.
IL was a. queer beginning for a
great holiday that people should have
united on| the same day to honor St.
valentine and Cupid. No more dis
similar deSties could be found
81. Valentine was an early day mar
tyr. He died for the church and in
commemoration of his goodness and
piety the Holy See, set aside February
Ia as the day on which the faithful
should do honor to his memory.
On this day it became the custom
to hold a love feast, which became
known as the Feast of Lupercalia. It
was at first a peculiarly religious OBJ
seFVance modelled somewhat on the
love feasts that are still held In MANY
churches, in which members of the
congregation break bread with each
oLner, as a sign of peace and good
fellowship
EVentuaHy the young folks passed
from the purely religious feature of
the holiday, and began to give it a
somewhat secular tone. From loving
your sister as a fellow believer in the
tenets of the church was not a far
step from loving her with the sort of
sentiment that usually leads to the
altar. III
80 In place of merely breaking
bread together, according to the sim
pie form Of old, the young men in
augurated j the custom of sending
beautiful gifts to the women of their
hearts. IT. was easy: to do this with
out fear Of reproof, for custom pre-
scribed that no one could of right re-
fuse that which came on st. Valen-
tines day. with all the gentle senti-
ments of love and Christian brother
hood that the festival inspired.
Thus ina gradual way Cupid had
come to uSurpi the place that st. Val
entine had once held all alone, and
what was originally a time of prayer
gradually transformed itself into the
season when love sent out it's mes
sengers ami pleas.
The wise old fathers of the church
fought this merging of the religious
with the secular but the idea had
taken firm hold on the people, and
was not to be easily abolished.
For loag timeathe worship of the
day was Fairly DIVIDED between st.
Valentine and CUPID. First, the PEG
pie would :send up a prayer for the
martyr. Then, this duty discharged,
they woulG assemble in the public
squares, the maids forming in line,
and youths standing by in laughing
eagerness.
One by 5ne the girls would file up
10 a huge wooden box affixed to a
pole and drop In the opening a slip of
paper with her name written thereon.
When every girl had deposited her
slip, the youths would file up and
iraw each .one a slip. With palpitat-
ng hearts would they read the names
Drawn, for to the maiden thus given
10 them by good st. Valentine they
must be faithful for one year.
frequently the girl thus drawn,
Known as a valentine became the
wife of thG man to whose lot she had
allen before the expiration Of the
1ear of service. The custom lasted
through many centuries.
St Valentino gave. the excuse for
hese sentimental exchanges, but Gu
I'D reapedf the actual profit. In point
Is antiquity, Cupid was far the senior
{ st. Valentine, though the latter is
.Iso pictured in the dignity of a gray
'eard, while Cupid is a mere sprite
/ boy, with bow and arrows. st.
era was some 20 centuries
ack. Cupid reaches into the dim. <
nest mist ;of the antiquities. In fact,
here never was time when Cupid did
ot exist.
The little god himself sent the first
alentine Of which there is any rec
I'd, though it wasn't the kind of mis-
I've that aow comes through the
lails in big square envelope.
The f1rss valentine was a rather c
rude Sort Of love message, for 1t s
ave pain, but Cupid had an excuse.
lie lacked other means of reaching e
20 a1~5 :