Phil has been having some difficulty organising a team for a chess match this evening because … it’s Valentine”s Day. Some of his players have commitments to take their wives or girlfriends or partners out for a romantic meal. Who knew that chess players were such romantic sentimentalists?
Time was Valentines were sent anonymously, sometimes in jest. Think of Bathsheba Everdene sending one to William Boldwood in Hardy’s “far from the Madding Crowd. As you might expect in a novel by Thomas Hardy, that didn’t end well. Fate has a way of coming and biting you in the leg in his stories.
Saint Valentine of Rome was imprisoned for his faith, and for marrying Christians (to each other, not a huge collection of wives for himself). The story goes that he restored the sight of his jailer’s blind daughter, no doubt converting her to Christianity in the process. In the 18th century someone added (invented?) the little detail that before he was executed he sent her a message, signed “your Valentine”. And so it began
Courtly love flourished in the 14th and 15th centuries with couples expressing their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards which became known as "valentines". It was the invention of the postage stamp in 1840 that made it possible for masses of valentines to be sent anonymously. 400,000 were sent one year after the introduction of the penny black stamp. Fewer individual handmade cards were made and production of cards for sale increased. Dickens called it "Cupid's Manufactory”, with over 3,000 women employed in manufacturing. As I suspected, the people who benefit most from such romantic notions are the card manufacturers!
The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately 190 million valentines are sent each year in the US. Half of those valentines are given to family members other than husband or wife, usually to children. (Yes, parents send them to their children! i hope they tell them theyglove them the rest of the year too!) When the valentine-exchange cards made in school activities are included the figure goes up to 1 billion, and teachers become the people receiving the most valentines. The average valentine's spending has increased every year in the U.S., from $108 a person in 2010 to $131 in 2013.
And now, of course, you can also send internet valentines. Also, the Lutheran Church and the Anglican Church have a service for the Feast of Saint Valentine, which includes the optional rite of the renewal of marriage vows. And iIn 2016, the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales established a novena prayer "to support single people seeking a spouse ahead of St Valentine's Day."
And, by the way, South Koreans spend the most money on Valentine's gifts.
The All Saints Library of Manchester Metropolitan University is home to the Laura Seddon Greeting Card Collection, with 32,500 greetings cards from the 19th century, with 450 Valentine’s Day cards. Among the carefully home-made cards are some of the earliest and rarest examples of commercially produced cards. Sentimental overload, I think!,
There’s a corner of nearby Dobcross which is decorated for whatever festivity is coming up. At Christmas time the small bushes were converted into gnomes with the addition of a floppy hat and a potato for a nose. Right now the place is festooned with stuffed cloth hearts, undoubtedly made by the children on the local primary school.
Apparently in Norfolk tradition has it that a character called 'Jack' Valentine knocks on the rear door of houses leaving sweets and presents for children. Although he was leaving treats, many children were scared of this mystical person. I should think so too - an expression of love leading to tooth decay!
In Italy Saint Valentine’s Keys are given to lovers "as a romantic symbol and an invitation to unlock the giver's heart". In Padua the key is also given to children as a charm to ward off epilepsy which is also called Saint Valentine’s Malady. One suggested explanation is that St. Valentine supposedly cured someone of epilepsy — a young woman engaged to be married. Another legend tells the story of a bishop named Valentine von Terni who helped the son of a Roman orator and stopped his seizures.
That’s enough of that nonsense.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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