The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1914-02-19
NOT OBSERVED AS
IN THE OLD DAYS
st. Valentine Is Now Neglected,
Compared to What Was Done
Some Two Centuries AGO.

&Q NT customs of st. Valentines
NM~M day. The windows and
ASAEHT play counters of our book
" stores and bazars are filled
at this season of the year with exam
pies of art and near-art to an extent
that should please every sort of taste in
regard to valentines. There is a day
or two of fun and merry chatter when
the tokens are received, or of even
more boisterous mirth if the valen-
tines are comic" here and there a
valentine party is given by the young
people, then the celebrating ceases
and 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. Valen-
tines day is credited to different Incl
dents. One writer of ancient social
customs says that it originated with
Nine. Royale, daughter of Henry w.,
of France. The lady, having built
splendid palace near Turin, desired to
name it for some good saint, and final
ly chose st. Valentine. Thus the ed
ifice was called THE Valentine" and
at the initial entertainment given in
the great drawing rooms, Nine. Roy
ale conceived the idea of causing her
guests to pair off by means of lot
terry.
Ladies' Drew From Lot.
The names of the men were writ
fon on olinc Of no nor oud fOJdod Tho
ladies 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 it was understood that each
lady should receive a bouquet from
her chosen lover, and that at every
tournament the trappings of knights
horse should be furnished by his allot-
ted lady, with this provisio-that the
lady eventually receive whatever prize
he might win. Nine. Royale,' however,
would not herself enter into this lot
terry, but reserved the privilege of
choosing her valentine" independent
ly.
Doubtless it is true that this lady
did originate this costume at her pal
ace in Turin, but it is also quite as
true that this was not the real origin
OF st. Valentines day, for it is alluded
to by English poets before her time.
Lydgate, 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
drawing lots"
Indeed, this custom seems to have
been a very ancient one, and contin-
ued to comparatively modern times.
An equal number of young men and
women would meet together on the
eve ST. Valentines day and hold lot
terry 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
CHANGED to meet on the morning of |
day would be ones valen- |
tine Other superstitions included |
mystic rites, particularly in Scotland,
II, 10
would be their future husbands. About |
the middle of the eighteenth century
one young woman-according to the
historian of social customs Of that
time-wrote as follows:
Last Friday was Valentines day,
and I'll tell you what 1 did the night
before. / got five bay leaves, pinned
four of them TO the four corners Of my
pillow and the fifth to the middle, for,
If l dreamt Of my sweetheart, Betty
said we would be married before the
year was out. But to make more sure,
| boiled an egg hard, took out the
yolk and filed the egg up with salt,
and when I went to bed ate it, shell
and all, without speaking or drinking
after it, and this was also to have ef-
feet with the bay leaves. We also
wrote our love names upon bits of pa
per 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 nay
man, and lay abed and shut my eyes.
all the morning till he came to our
house, for l would not have seen an
other man before him for all the
world"