St. Valentine’s Day

ST. VALENTINE'S DAY By George D. Kirey St. Valentine's day, February 14, is the day upon which birds are supposed to select their mates, and for that reason it has been set apart, in some countries, as peculiarly appropriate for love-making. It is Cupid's day. There are Valentine parties and Valentine games, and in all of them love is the central idea. On St. Valentine's day, the spirit of love is recognized more openly than at other times. The little winged god sends his arrows broadcast. They lurk in dainty missives of tinseled lace paper valentines that keep the postmen busy delivering them. They hide in the petals of violets and roses and the sweetest of floral tributes to Milady Fair from her adorer. They go through the land and leave in their wake happiness and heartease or disappointment and woe. A considerable proportion of our American holidays are, before all else, children's festivals. However, the one observance that is not only pre-eminently, but almost universally, a young people's holiday is St. Valentine's day. The devotees of the February feast of sentiment include all members1 of the junior generation, from little tots too young to understand the significance of the exchange of pretty pictures. One often wonders how St. Valentine's day ever got a start. It is said that in England and France the young folks were given to playing a game in which the names of all the girls and boys were witten on tiny slips of paper, thrown into a general receptacle, and then drawn out lottery fashion, care being taken of course that each person drew the name of one of the other sex. The person thus drawn became one's valentine, and the allotment decreed by fate was supposed to impose upon the couple a sort of loyalty for the coming year. All this sounds very romantic and beautiful, but it must have mixed things up fearfully, and it is a question whether or not fate always selected the right maiden for the right man. Oddly enough the origin of St. Valentine's day would seem to give little warrant for the modern custom of exchanging on February 14 missives and epistles, either comic or sentimental. Two churchmen, bearing the name of Valentine have sometimes been suggested a9 having possible connection with the origin of St. Val- entine's day. Both bearers of the now magic name were accounted to possess miraculous powers for the sick. Students of history, and delvers into the love of tradition, have made various attempts, none wholly suc- cessful, explaining how the modern festival of mirth and sentiment de- rived its name. One of the most plausible theories is based on the fact

ST. VALENTINE'S DAY 347 that in the olden days "v" and "g" were frequently interchangeable in popular speech. There is evidence that the Norman word galatin — a gallant and lover of the fair sex — was frequently written and pro- nounced vatantan, or Valentin. As far back as 1621, when Valentine's day was already an estab- lished custom in England, we find one British writer attempting to explain its origin on the premise that about this time of year the birds choose their mates and that probably this suggested the custom of young men and maidens adopting the same season as a time for choosing valentines or special loving friends. An even more plausible ex- planation is that our latter-day feast of St. Valentine is merely the Christianized form of the classic Lupercalis — a feast held annually in Rome during the month of February in honor of Pan and Juno, and the chief feature of the ceremonies of which was the practice of placing the names of young women in a box or other receptacle from which they were drawn, as> chance directed, by young men. As the story goes, the Christian clergy, despite repeated efforts, were never able to abolish this pagan practice. During the sixteenth century the. church, in the person of St. Francis de Sates, "severely forbade the custom of valentines or giving boys in writing the names of girls to be admired and attended on by them." As a substitute, there was inaugurated the practice of giving billets containing the names of certain saints, but in the end St. Francis was no more successful in this crusade than his predecessors had been. The sentimental young folks returned to their old practices and restored the heart mart with all its old significance. The custom soon spread from France to England, and was in high favor there as early as 1690. Shakespeare says of the day: "I swear to thee by Cupid's strongest bow. By his best arrow with the golden head, By the simplicity of Venus's doves, By that which kindleth souls and prospers loves." In Shakespeare's day the approved observance of St. Valentine's festival seems to have taken the form of "challenging" valentines, with the understanding that he or she who said it first on meeting a person of the opposite sex should receive a present. In short, it was a custom very similar in effect to the Christmas gift greeting which long prevailed, and yet obtains in some parts of the United States. As time went on the practice was so amended that all the challenging was done by the young ladies, and all the giving of presents by the young men who were successfully challenged. This custom- seems to have been the direct forerunner of the modern practice of exchanging printed or written valentines. Like so many other days with a special signification, St. Valen- tine's day has, with many, lost its true meaning; it has become a day upon which many have no more the tender sentiment originally in-

348 IMPROVEMENT ERA tended. The custom of sending one's valentine anonymously, seems to be largely confined to the English speaking people, and the mush- room growth of the so-called comic valentines, horrible distortions of even clodhopper humor, is distinctively American. The gentle Dean Swift, in writing a friend, describes his first reception of a comic valentine: "I was seated in my library when the postman arrived, and I opened the bag. What was my surprise to find my first greet ing on St. Valentine's morning to be a representation of a fat person, with a body like a pig and a head like a colt. Of course, it grieved me, for I always considered the day one devoted to everything beautiful in life. But I felt far more compassion for the unfortunate mental condition of the sender than I did for the feelings of the recipient, which were, I assure you, quite healed before I finished breakfast." The simplicity of this gentle protest, scarcely a rebuke, is pathetic. In the country, Norfolk, England, as soon as it grows dark, packages are laid on door steps, the bell is rung and the bearer scoots away. The packages are supposed to contain presents, thus being a sort of combined Christmas and Hollowe'en. It is customary in parts of Europe for the young men to meet together on the village green in trials of strength. The young lad who is able to give most fluently the precise and indisputable reasons why he should be considered the best man, naturally has his choice of the maidens fair who are interested spectators of the contest. The losers, however, come in for the short end of the pursie, for they are allowed to choose their maidens for the ensuing St. Valentine's day festivities according to their merit. In Ireland, the great feature of St. Valentine's day is the break- down dance. All the boys and girls engage in it, the couple dancing the longest winning the coveted applause. The victorious couple is looked upon as well-mated, and not infrequently a wedding follows during Eastertide. The dance itself is indeed a spectacle. With much ceremony the doors of the barn are lifted from their hinges, and the dance commences as soon as the fiddlers or the players- of the bag- pipes order the couples out. Goldsmith describes the dancers in his "Deserted Village:" "The dancing pair that simply sought renown, By holding out to tire each other down." The absolute whole-heartedness of the dance and the fierceness of these tests of endurance must be seen to be appreciated. Though the occasion is one of the utmost jollity and good will, the contestants are earnest in their endeavors to win. There have been some memorable St. Valentine days. Arizona may well be known as the "Valentine state," for she was admitted to the Union on February 14, 1912. President Taft signed the pro- clamation in the White House at ten o'clock in the morning, in the presence of a distinguished body of officials and Arizonians. The

ST. VALENTINE'S DAY 349 state of Oregon was also admitted to the Union on St. Valentine's day, in 1859; hence she may lay claim to being the original "Valentine state." The observance of Valentine's day, which two or three decades ago seemed to wane markedly, during the past few years has been restored to all its old popularity. The appearance of the souvenir post card fad, which was speedily adapted to Valentine's day purposes, was doubt- less in part responsible for this. So was the appearance of valentine tokens more pretentious than any of the lace paper treasures of a generation or more ago. The young man who this February seeks as sentimental remembrance, a twentieth-century girl, can expend almost any amount his pocket book will allow on such trifles as heart-shaped candy boxes, Valentine gift books, jewelry designed for this significant occasion, or flowers in a setting appropriate for the Valentine season. A growing observance of St. Valentine's day throughout the United States takes the form of Valentine parties. The opportunities for appropriate decorations and significant souvenirs have no equal, unless it be on Hallowe'en, and the very character of the day suggests in- numerable games. Youth, Today! We are young! Today I can but wonder, As I contemplate the mystic years ahead, When Time shall wanton tear our loves asunder, And on life's sunset crest we'll count our dead; When age shall break youth's opalescent bubble, Will life seem vacant, hushed, all weirdly still? Shall we stand there amid the sod and stubble, And wait with bended head the Reaper's will? Or shall we so have labored in the daylight, That old scenes changed, old friends to bid farewell, New duties worthy step into the spotlight; No time to brood; we're held in present's spell! Fond mem'ries breathe a benediction kindly, That softens all the lines, and tones the glare Of today', yet we must be mindful Lest the sombre hues may deepen as we stare, And fill our livelong day with mauve and violet, All dotted, striped, and plaided o'er with gray. If I would be my life's efficient pilot, I can better steer 'mid daytime's colors gay. And so, today, prepare our lives for service, That we may walk at setting of life's sun, Not with heads bowed, hands folded without purpose, But erect, with interest keen, till day is done! Los Angeles, Calif. FAWN HUNT WOOLLEY.