Evening star., 1938-02-13
VALENTINE IDEAS IMMORTAL
Early Christian Origin May Have Been Influenced by Pagan
Custom, Later Developed Through the Centuries
With Romantic and Comic SUGGESTIONS.

have their ribald laughter at the
country pumpkins to whom they have
been affixed by Cupids bow for a year.
In fact, OF the two the men may be ex-
pected to receive the more keenly
pointed darts. for. as says Kipling.
"the female of the species Is deadlier
than the male" truly.
you struttin' cockatoo Of man
You are my Valentine, I know.
And for year I'll have to see
Your face and form wher'er 60.
But get this through your leather
pate
A year Is all you'll get Of me,
For after that you'll get the gate
And never mair my face shall see"
Cruel words to one who might be
in love with his Dulciana.
Alexander Pope was England's
greatest satirist and the days OF
Charles II were the most foppish in
the history OF England. Then does
Pepys in his famous diary recall the
practice Of valentines" at the royal
court. Like the country folk, the
ladies and courtiers Of the time Of
Charles drew their lovers" on St.
Valentines Day amid much con-
fusion and laughter. and married or
not, were lovers for a year in the best
traditions Of the old custom.
DOPE, whose life fell in the era fol-
lowing that of Charles II. gave TO
the world the caustic. biting satire
found in all modern comic valentines.
What he left unsaid of his enemies
was composed Of words which he could
not fit together to form a verbal lash.
Robert Burns. the great Scots poet.
also had the art Of lampoon down to
perfection and from these today the
comic cartoon artist of the valentine
draws his inspiration.
Think of the young girl who went
through the following ordeal in order
that she might get valentine hus-
band and then failed to get the right
one
Last Tuesday" says this miss. was
st. Valentines Day and the night be-
fore I pinned five bay leaves on my
pillow. one on each corner and one In
the middle, and walked backward to
bed. so If dream of my sweetheart we
! shall be married before the year is out
But to make 1t more sure, boiled an
egg very hard, took the yolk out and
filled it with salt: went to bed, ate 1t.
shell and all, without speaking or
drinking after it. We also wrote our
lovers names on paper, rolled them up
in clay and put Them in water. and the
first arose was our valentine"
Very pretty, indeed! But what a
sacrifice to make for a sweetheart
just for one year! And what a reac-
ton in the young maids mind II the
whole thing panned out like the salt
to the taste. in the inner egg, or the
shell, grinding and sticking in her
teeth with nothing to wash it down
and with ban on speech.
What might you expect? Caustic
lines. indeed!
Those flimsy bits Of lace paper that
we find on card stalls adorned with
| Cupid bows and love-knots are the
husks of the once elaborate senti-
ments bestowed by the original valen-
tine. Just when and how this old
custom of pledging love in . mock
ceremony arose is uncertain. Like
many of the beautiful remnants pos
sessed by us in our relations with
each other. somewhere in the dim past
the lines Of the original began to be
drawn.
VALENTINE, a religious Of the third
century, is reputed to have given
the day its name. Lovers who had
quarreled and who had separated.
each to 60 his own way miserably, were
reconciled by his timely human in
| terest in their lives and were drawn
| back together by him in the bond Of
their once sweet friendship. Because
of this good ONCE of his to lovers and
the fact that his life ended in martyr
dom, he became the patron saint Of
lovers.
Many Of our quaint Christian Gus
toms today, handed down from an
tiquity, had their origin piecemeal or
| in larger part in paganism. As Chris
tianity began to make its way In an
un- Christian world, the peoples who
accepted 1t brought along with them
their pagan practices and customs.
These were gradually leavened by the
| new religion until they became
| "Christianized" There Is some evi-
dence that the st. Valentine custom
of love pledges and love tokens for q
year had their origin in this quarter.
The old Roman feast Of Eupercalia
took place in February-the 18th.
It was celebrated in honor of Lu-
percus, god Of fertility. and was Q
Bacchanalian feast Of love. At this
feast, amid . great variety Of cere-
monies, the names Of young men and
young women present were put IN .
receptacle and drawn out by lot. The
feast was held every year.
THE custom Of iove-mating by the
Christian world on the 18th of
February, therefore, may, indeed. be
. very old one. The 14th could easily
be q confusion Of the 18th. as the
custom moved down the centuries by
| tradition alone. And there Is enough
similarity traceable between the two
to suggest that they were once one
and the same thing.
So quaint was the custom that tradi-
tion assigns 1t also to the birds. This
tradition was generally recognised In
the time Of Chaucer, Englands hrst
great poet, who refers 70 1t In his
| 00axqia Nansak - 0a,,lna0 -