The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1907-02-08

why.
Everybody knows what
Christmas means, or In
dependence day, Thanksgiving day,
Easter, but the origin Of st, yalen.
tines day, or even its meaning, Is a
riddle but few have solved.
It is one Of the Oldest Of the holt
days. Only Christmas and Easter go
further back into antiquity. These
days have been observed ever since
there was religion. But all the rest
Of the holidays are but infants beside
the February occasion when beiaced,
befrfnged and beflowered love tokens
are sent on their sentimental jour
neys.
st. Valentines day began some
where about the opening of the third
century. 1t is a quaint combination
Of religion and sentiment. 1t repre-
sents the dual worship of a great
man Of the church and cupid, the mis-
chievous patron and saint Of love.
It 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 deities could be found.
st. Valentine was an early day mar
tyr. He died for the church, and in
commemoration of his goodness and
Fpiety the Holy See set aside February
IA as the day on which the faithful
SHOULD do honor to his memory.
On this day 1t became the custom
Ito hold a love feast, which became
known as the Feast of Lupercalia. 1t
was at first a peculiarly religious OBJ
~servance modelled somewhat on the
love feasts that are still held in many
churches, in which members Of the
congregation break bread with each
other, as a sign Of peace and good
Fellowship.
Eventually the young folks passed
from the purely religious feature of
Ethe holiday, and began to give it a
somewhat secular tone. From loving
your sister as a fellow believer in the
Etenets of the church was not a far
Estep from loving her with the sort of
sentiment that usually leads to the
ALTAR.
So in place of merely breaking
BREAD together. according to the sim
pile form of old, the young men In
Eaugurated the custom of sending
beautiful gifts to the women of their
Rhearts. 1t 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 In a gradual way Cupid had
come to usurp 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 its mes
Esengers and pleas.
The wise old fathers of the church
thought this merging of the religious
Y with the secular, but the idea had
Ktaken a firm hold on the people, and
4 was not to be easily abolished.
For a long time the worship of the
Eday was fairly divided between st.
Valentine and Cupid. First, the Peo-
pie would send up a prayer for the
kmartyr. Then, this duty discharged,
they would assemble in the public
squares, the maids forming in line,
band youths standing by in laughing
~keagerness.
One by one 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
a draw each one q slip. With palpitat.
4 ing hearts would they read the names
4 drawn, for to the maiden thus given
to 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 the man to whose lot she had
fallen before the expiration of the
year of service. The custom lasted
4 through many centuries.
st. Valentine gave the excuse for
these sentimental exchanges, but Gu
pid reaped the actual profit. In point
OF antiquity, Cupid was far the senior
OF st. Valentine, though the latter IA
also pictured in the dignity Of a gray
beard, while Cupid Is a mere sprite
OF a boy, with bow and arrows st
Valentines era was some 20 centuries
back. Cupid reaches into the dim
NEST mist OF the antiquities. In fact
there never was time when Cupid did
not exist.
The little god himself sent the frs
valentine OF which there is any rec
ord, though 1t wasn't the kind of mis-
sive that now comes through the
mails In a big square envelope.
The first valentine was a rathel
crude sort Of love message, for 4
gave pain, but Cupid had an excuse
He lacked other 9 q Of reaching
the affections Of the obdurate Psyche