The Washington herald., 1913-02-14
Celebrating St. Valentines
Day Two Hundred Years Ago

The sending by mail of embossed
tokens OF love or friendship is about al
there is left Of the ancient customs Of
St Valentines Day. The windows anC
display counters of our book stores anC
bazaars are filed at this season of tht
year with examples OF art and near-art
10 an extent that should please every
sort of taste in reC-rd to valentines
There is a day or two Of fun and merry
chatter when the tokens are received
or OF even more boisterous mirth IL the
valentines are ''comic:' here and there
q valentine party is given by the youns
people, then the celebrating ceases apd
Is forgotten.
Not so a couple of centuries ago. Then
the festivities were much more in the
character of observance and ceremonies
The origin of St Valentines Day Is
credited to different incidents. One
writer of ancient social customs says
that It originated with Nine. Royale
daughter of Henry ", OF France The
lazy. having built a splendid palace near
Turin, desired TO name it for some good
saint, and finally chose St Valentine.
Thus the edifice was called The Valen-
tine" and at the initial entertainment
given in the great drawing rooms,
Nine. Royale conceived the idea OF
causing her guests to pair on by means
Of Q lottery. .
Ladies Drew from Ist.
The names of the men wer, written
on slips OF paper and folded. III. aides
then drew from the list. and whoever
each one drew was TO be her valentine"
for the space of one year. At the various
balls which this gay-spirited young
princess gave during the season II was
understood that each lady should receive
a bouquet from her chosen lover. and
that at every tournament the trappings
of a knights horse should be furnished
by his allotted lady, with this proviso-
that the lady eventually receive what
ever prize he might win. Nine.
Royale, however, would not herself enter
into this lottery, but reserved the privi-
lege Of choosing her valentine inde-
pendetly.
Doubtless it is true that this lady did
originate this custom at her palace in
Turin, but it is also quite as true that
this was not the real origin Of ST. Valen-
tines Day, for It is alluded to by Eng
lish poets before her time. Lydgate. a
monk, who died in the year 1440, and who
has been described as the poet Of his
monastery" wrote poem in praise Of
Queen Catherine, consort of Henry ",
of England, in which he mentioned the
Observance of St Valentines Day, and
the custom of drawing lots"
Indeed, this custom seems to have been
a very ancient one, and continued to
comparatively modern times.
An equal number of young men and
women would meet together on the eve
OF st. Valentines Day and hold lottery,
in which the names of both men and
women were drawn; thus each maid and
bachelor would have two valentines"
who were required to make mutual gifts.
This. Of course, occasioned any amount
Of mirth and some funny situations.
Other Superstitions.
One superstition which held good until
quite recent times was that the first
young man or young woman one chanced
TO meet on the morning of Valentines
Day would be ones valentine. Other
superstitions included mystic rites, par
ticularly in Scotland, which enabled
maidens to learn who would be their fu-
ture husbands. About the middle of the
eighteenth century one young woman
according to the historian of social GUS
toms of that time-wrote as follows:
Last Friday was Valentines Day, and
I'll tell you what | did the night before.
I got five bay leaves, pinned four Of them
TO the four corners of my pillow and the
fifth to the middle, for, If dreamt of my
sweetheart, Betty said We should be mar
ried before the year was out. But TO
make it more sure, boiled an egg hard,
took out the yolk and filled the egg up
with salt, and when l went to bed ate
It, shell and ALL without speaking or
drinking after 1t, and this was also to
have effect with the bay leaves. We also
wrote our love names upon bits of paper
and rolled them up in clay and put them
into water, and the first that rose was to
be OUR valentine. Would you think It?
Mr.. Blossom was my man, and lay abed
came to our house, for I would not have
seen another man before him for all the
world
Children Chanted Songs.
This quaint letter shows how the idea of
the powers of St Valentine were appre-
ciated by the maidens OF that time 1t
was customary in the olden times for
maidens to hang their shoes outside the
window on the eve of st. Valentines Day
in order that their love affairs should
prosper. although the explanation of this
belief is not given. Children also went
about chanting songs about Valentine
and collecting coins as their valentines.
The valentine gifts Of those days were
sometimes very costly, including jewels,
rings, brooches, silken sashes, or belts
with begemmed buckles, silk gloves with
rich embroidery. and other expensive
presents which man might make to his
valentine"
St Valentines Day was alluded TO by
Shakespeare and Chaucer. and one of the
earliest known writer's OF valentines was
Charles, Duke of Orleans Drayton, Il
Poet Of Shakespeare's time. also wrote
cilarming verses along this theme.
What connection the martyred Bishop
Valentine has to do with these customs
whose ruler seems to be Cupid, would
puzzle the saint himself. The death OF the
good bishop, which occurred in the third
century, was q most cruel one. He was
first beaten with clubs and then beheaded.
Thus II seems paradoxical that the COM
memoratin Of him should be observed in
the gayest Of fashions and always in con-
junction with the pranks OF the little god
of love.
Many learned historians have given con-
siderable time and investigation to the
origin of the romantic observance OF st.
Valentines Day, but the secret Is still a
secret-the real mystery is still unsolved.