More legends and customs are associated with the origin of Valentine's Day than any other widely observed celebration. Although most agree that it was named after a saint noted for settling lovers' quarrels, the question remains, Which Saint Valentine? Early lists of Christian martyrs include eight of them. Two of the most prominent were beheaded by Emperor Claudius II during the third century for giving aid and comfort to Christians. While in prison, one of the Valentines is said to have "brought sight" to the jailer's blind daughter, fallen in love with her, and, just before being beheaded, written her a farewell letter signed "From your Valentine."

It seems probable that tales of several Saint Valentines merged to create the legendary patron saint of lovers. Another theory, the belief that the word valentine came from the Norman galatin, meaning gallant or lover of women, enriched the romance of Valentine's Day. (According to etymologists, the letters v and g were once used interchangeably)

The first known printed representation of Saint Valentine is in The Nuremberg Chronicle. Among the hundreds of woodcuts in this fifteenth-century picture book is one depicting Valentinus, the Saint Valentine who loved the jailer's daughter. He was beheaded on February 14 in the year 270.

Over the centuries, as Christianity established itself in Europe, wise priests, rather than forbidding pagan festivals, refined them into Christian celebrations. The ancient custom of maidens and young men drawing names to select partners for celebrations was retained and became popular in England. Heart-shaped epistles of greeting, many declaring undying love, were in use in England in the fourteenth century, and, in the next century, many English poets began writing valentine verses. John Lydgate, a noted English poet who died in 1450, spoke sentimentally of the "Custome of Seynte Valentine" as a rewarding "religioun."

Charles Duc d'Orleans was one of the earliest creators of "poetical amorous address," or valentines. After the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, in which Henry V of England was victorious over the French, Charles was confined in the Tower of London; from there he sent rhymed love letters to his wife.

Birds, booklets, and boiled eggs

In the Middle Ages it was believed throughout Europe that February 14 was the mating day for birds. For example, English poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote, "On St. Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh to choose his mate." The belief endured. In 1614, English clergyman and poet John Donne wrote a poem honoring the Saint Valentine's Day marriage of Princess Elizabeth to Frederick, Count Palatine of the Rhine:

Hail, Bishop Valentine! whose day this is;

All the air is thy diocese,

And all the chirping choristers

And other birds are thy parishioners:

Thou marryest every year

The lyric lark and the grave whispering dove;

The sparrow that neglects his life for love,

The household bird with the red stomach;

Thou mark'st the blackbird speed as soon,

As doth the goldfinch or the halcyon . . .

This day more cheerfully than ever shine

This day which might inflame thyself,

old Valentine!

Many superstitions related to birds seen by maidens on Valentine's Day. If a maiden spied a blackbird, she would marry a clergyman; a goldfinch, a millionaire; a redbreast, a sailor; a crossbill, a quarrelsome man. If she saw a flock of doves, she would have a happy marriage in all ways, but if she saw a wryneck she would suffer a lifetime as an old maid.

The belief that birds chose their mates on Saint Valentine's Day came to America with the colonists and lasted throughout the nineteenth century in the Ozark hill country, where the people thought not only birds but rabbits began their mating season on February 14. The idea lingers on in a few remote areas.

Valentine writers. In France and England in the seventeenth century it was customary for both sexes on Saint Valentine's Eve to draw names from "billet boxes" to determine their partners for the forthcoming celebration. According to a 1698 account, "The maids take the men's billets, and the men the maids', so that each young Man lights upon a Girl he calls his Valentine, and each Girl upon a young Man she calls hers. This means each has two Valentines." Getting this involved situation sorted out into satisfied valentine couples was an exciting but sometimes combative procedure, handled differently depending on locality. In France, matters sometimes ended in a duel. According to the 1698 account, once the couples were "fixed," the young men took over: "The Valentines give treats to their mistresses, wear their billets upon their sleeves, and this sport often ends in love."

A poem in Poor Robin's Almanac in 1757 leaves no doubt that the eighteenth-century English were romantic participants in Valentine's Day activities:

This month bright Phoebus enters Pisces,

The maids will have good store of kisses,

For always when the fun comes there,

Valentine's Day is drawing near,

And both the men and maids incline

To chuse them each a Valentine;

And if a man gets one he loves,

He gives her first a pair of gloves;

And, by the way, remember this,

To seal the favour with a kiss.

This kiss begets more love, and then

That love begets a kiss again,

Until this trade the man doth catch,

And then he doth propose the match.

The woman's willing, tho' she's shy,

She gives the man this soft reply,

"I'll not resolve one thing or other,

Until I first consult my mother."

When she says so, `tis half a grant,

And may be taken for consent.

It isn't known just when red became the lucky color for valentine love messages, but in the seventeenth century, English diarist Samuel Pepys remarked that, even though red was symbolic of the heart, most women were more concerned about the value of valentine gifts than the color. He recorded that the Duke of York had given a young lady who later became the Duchess of Richmond a valentine jewel worth eight hundred pounds, and an English lord had given "the very same well-known lady" a valentine ring valued at three hundred pounds. The same year Pepys had given his wife "a Turkey-stone set with diamonds" for a valentine present. It had, he wrote, pleased her very much. He added, "I am glad about it, for it is fit the wretch should have something to content herself with."

The English brought valentine customs to the New World, but the practices did not take root in the early days of colonization because women were so scarce there was no time for romance before they were swept into matrimony. Unmarried females who were "shipped over for the men awaiting them" had no expectation of courtship. This dismal state of affairs was heightened in New England by laws that forbade all public signs of affection between men and women. About 1700, when a Boston ship captain impulsively kissed his wife in public upon returning home after a three-year voyage, he was sentenced to sit in the stocks for two hours as punishment for "lewd and unseemly behavior."

In some American colonies, simple handmade, heart-shaped Valentines were exchanged prior to the eighteenth century, but it was not until the 1720s that celebration of the day for lovers was enthusiastically practiced. Starting around 1724, booklets called "valentine writers" did much to boost romance. Imported from England, the booklets gave instructions for making and decorating fancy red or gilt-edged valentines with bleeding hearts, lovers' knots, Cupid with his golden bow and arrows, and pretty turtledoves noted for their cooing and affectionate manner.

They contained page after page of valentine verses and messages for men to send women, and some even included romantic answers for women to return. Here is one combination:

Valentine

A short time since I danc'd with you,

And from that hour lov'd you true;

Your pleasing form, your charming air,

Might with a fabl'd grace compare;

Your accents, so melodious sweet,

Still on my ear does seem to beat;

And `tis the first wish of my life,

To win my Delia for a wife;

Deign, my sweet maid, a line to send,

And may love's saint my plea defend.

Reply

Your Valentine is very kind,

Nor did a cool reception find;

Your company gave me delight,

When I danc'd with you t'other night;

Then mutually we did incline,

Our hearts to love, my Valentine.

Ensuring romantic attention. In the eighteenth century, many superstitions detailed procedures a maiden might follow on Saint Valentine's Eve to ensure romantic attention from her secret lover--or any eligible male--the next day. One was to visit the nearest graveyard at midnight and chant a prayer that her valentine hopes would be fulfilled; another was to run around the church twelve times without stopping, a third was to pin five bay leaves to her pillow, four to the corners and one in the middle, which would make her sweetheart dream of marrying her and, perhaps, propose the next day; still another was to eat a hard-boiled egg at midnight, shell and all, without an accompanying drink. A maiden approaching old-maid status was advised to try all four.

These superstitions were not universal. Some sections of the country favored one or more, some sections others. There seems to have been little attempt to fathom why these procedures did, could, or might produce the desired results, except for the age-old belief that Saint Valentine was doing his best for lovers. The superstitions were passed down from generation to generation, particularly in remote areas.

Growing in popularity

The first commercial valentines, simple messages of affection, were offered for sale about 1800. Three decades later they had become elaborate affairs, many made of fine paper and dressed up with imported lace, satin ribbon, and golden cupids. In 1840, mechanical valentines with tabs that could make figures or objects move appeared on the market. They were widely popular.

In the midnineteenth century, improvement in mail services and a reduction of postage rates greatly increased the sending of valentines. William Walsh, in Curiosities of Popular Customs (1898), gave a vivid description of nineteenth-century valentines:

They generally consisted of a gaudily colored picture, representing a loving couple seated in a bower, with a church in the distance, and a few lines descriptive of the tender sentiments of the persons forwarding the same. The designers of these amatory billets seem to have entertained rather singular notions respecting the proper attire of the ladies and gentlemen of whose feeling they sought to become the interpreters. The lady was invariably dressed in a scarlet gown, with a blue or green shawl; the gentleman was attired in lavender trousers, yellow waistcoat, blue surtout, and green or crimson cravat.

Vinegar valentines. As exchanging sentimental valentines with pretty pictures became more popular, ugly, comic versions called "vinegar valentines" began to appear. They featured grotesque caricatures, harsh colors, and unflattering, sometimes cruelly personal, verse expressing sentiments far removed from love. A New York printer named John McLoughlin and his brother began publishing a great variety of comic valentines in 1848, and McLoughlin Brothers soon became the best-known manufacturer in the business. The firm produced the outlandish novelties in sheets of sixteen, to be cut apart as needed. Some comic valentines designed by cartoonists sold for a penny each and were sometimes called "penny dreadfuls." Almost all comic valentines were so ugly that they were sent anonymously. Such valentines can still be found, but the comic cards of the twentieth century have become far less caustic.

During the Civil War many lovely valentines were published expressly for soldiers and their wives and girlfriends at home to exchange. The majority bore loving messages, but, surprisingly, some did not. One, "To a Soldier," sent this message:

You are a gallant soldier,

With a splendid figure for parade;

The country is safe in your keeping,

So long as you fight in the shade.

I fancy myself your beloved?

Wouldn't you have a jolly good time?

I'd make you stand guard over a cradle,

And do double duty to Valentine.

Another, which pictured a lady laboring over a washtub, carried this odd promise:

Over the tub is a good place to learn

The virtue of your station;

Over the tub is a good place to learn

An industrious reputation.

Just rub away and in good time,

You'll wash the shirt of Valentine.

In the 1880s a few manufacturers produced limited numbers of very expensive valentines. One, which cost fifty dollars--a lot of money in 1880--was in the shape of a miniature valentine fire screen. Its center was a heavily embossed and adorned circle of thick paper and its outer edge was a strong, fancy ruffle of real lace. One manufacturer specialized in making lovely valentines with designs of spun glass.

In the Gay Nineties there were big, showy shadow-box valentines, wall hangings decorated with pretty girls peeping from masses of heart-shaped drawings, and mechanical valentines with movable parts depicting everything from lovesick man and maiden figures and cuddling lovebirds to heart-shaped cobwebs and jeweled chariots.

From dances to skywriting

With World War I came valentines picturing Army nurses carrying the American flag in one hand and a big red valentine in the other; the uniformed soldiers depicted either had pretty girls or obviously were thinking about them. The valentines of World War II were little different, except the romantic verses were spicier and the movable figures livelier.

In the first decades of the present century, when many valentines were on cards and not sealed in envelopes, the U.S. Post Office refused to accept valentine cards that were coarse and ugly. One year, the Chicago Post Office rejected 25,000 valentines as unfit to be carried through the mails; the same year, 1,250,000 did go through the Chicago mail, and 750,000 were handled by the Philadelphia Post Office.

Valentine dances for teenagers were routine affairs in many schools during the 1920s. The dance halls were decorated with hearts and cupids, and the dance cards were valentines. In many parts of the country, it was the custom to have costume balls for adults on Saint Valentine's evening. More than 1,900 dancers attended one held by the Boston Conservatory of Music in Symphony Hall. They came dressed as gallants and knights of the Middle Ages, pirates of the Spanish Main, characters from famous operas and plays by Shakespeare, gypsies, and an assortment of beautiful women and notorious men from various periods of history. A contemporary left this account of the ball's grand march:

As they passed slowly, eight abreast, down the sides and across the center of the floor they appeared to be some ancient manuscript, wonderfully illuminated, come to life. Juliet smiled up at Weary Willie; a white-robed nun of the fourteenth century paced demurely at the side of Charles II; Faust bent over the hand of a cowgirl; Hamlet joked with Carmen; the Arabian princess drew aside her veil to dimple at a plaided Scotchman.

Unusual gifts. The custom of men giving women Valentine's Day presents has endured through the ages, but the presents have changed. Long ago, gentlemen of moderate means gave lace handkerchiefs, perfumed gloves, and fancy garters--jeweled garters, if they could afford to. Today, the usual gifts are candy and flowers. However, in recent years there have been surprising, unusual, and widely publicized valentines, mostly exchanged by the rich and famous. The well-known comedian Garry Moore charmed his wife by hiring four planes to skywrite a heart three miles wide, pierced by an arrow six miles long and bearing the names "Garry and Nell."

An even greater variety of valentines was produced in Europe. Some English and French valentines displayed fine handpainted pictures of birds and flowers, a few done by noted artists. Others bore wreathes of delicate, handmade silk flowers; still others were heavily decorated with feathers. Paper-lace valentines that held a keepsake lock of the sender's hair were quite popular. A manufacturer in Kent, England, produced valentines for the blind; all the figures were embossed so they could be identified by sensitive fingers, and all verses and messages were in Braille.

A day for matchmaking. In some areas of England, Valentine's Day was traditionally a time for parents or friends of unmarried girls of marriageable age to engage in matchmaking. The tradition is referred to in English literature dating back to the fifteenth century. In The Paston Letters, a collection covering the years from 1422 to 1509, a letter from Dame Elizabeth Brews to John Paston, with whom she sought to arrange a match for her daughter, set forth these plans:

And, cousin mine, upon Monday is St. Valentine's Day and every bird chooseth himself a mate, and I seek ye to come on Thursday night and make provision that ye may abide till then. I trust God that ye shall speak to my husband and I shall pray that we may bring the matter to a conclusion.

It is probable that the affair was managed to Dame Elizabeth's satisfaction, as another letter in the collection is addressed by the daughter "unto my right-well beloved Valentine, John Paston, Esquire."

Loveland

In 1946, in Loveland, a town in north-central Colorado, the romantic Chamber of Commerce president, Ted Thompson, and the popular postmaster, Elmer Ivers, decided that the "love in Loveland" should be shared with the whole world. Their idea was prompted by the fact that individuals were sending valentines to their town to be remailed with the postmark Loveland. In February 1947, the Loveland Valentine Remailing Program got under way. Since then, several million valentines have been remailed at the post office, with no charge for the service. Prestamped, preaddressed valentines may be mailed in larger envelopes to the city's postmaster, addressed "Attention: Valentines." At Loveland, they are hand-stamped on the bottom left corner with the Loveland seal--a likeness of Cupid and a four-line romantic verse that is different each year--and remailed with a special Loveland cancellation mark.

Each year since 1962, a high school senior has been chosen "Miss Loveland Valentine." She makes many personal appearances, representing the City of Loveland in Colorado, other states, and, occasionally, internationally. The program, which is managed by the Loveland Chamber of Commerce, is financed by the sale of Loveland valentines and valentine-related products. Various city organizations assist; scores of senior-citizen volunteers hand stamp the four-line seal on each of an average of 250,000 valentines remailed annually within the United States and to 104 foreign countries.

Today, manufacturing valentines is an enormous business, and through the years Valentine's Day has become increasingly commercial, even crude. Nevertheless, it remains a special day for lovers, and the legend lingers that Saint Valentine, whoever and wherever he is, will see that the tradition continues.

Additional Reading

George William Douglas, The American Book of Days, H.W. Wilson Co., New York, 1948.

Maymie Krythe, All About American Holidays, Harper & Row, New York, 1962.

Claudia de Lys, A Treasury of American Superstitions, Philosophical Library, New York, 1948.

Robert Myers, Celebrations, Doubleday & Co., Garden City, N.Y., 1972.

William Walsh, Curiosities of Popular Customs, Philadelphia, 1898.