A Valentine Wish

A Happy Valentine’s Day wish to every one! I hope this day is full of sweet paper hearts and chocolate for you and your loved ones. So, how did this day of hearts, chocolate and flowers come about? Well… to my surprise when I went looking (ie: Google & Wikipedia), I found that there were actually more than one St. Valentines to have lived but the Martyr Valentinus (Latin for Valentine) who was beheaded on the 14th of February in Rome by order of Emperor Claudius II seems to be the most popular. For he went against Claudius’s no marriage or engagement rule and married young lovers in secret. Though it is said that all the St Valentines were “outstanding lovers of God and people, able to hear and to support anyone who is in love”. The Feast of St. Valentine on February 14 was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I. There was also some 18th century English folks who thought due to the obscurity of what isn’t known about the St Valentine(s) that Valentine’s Day was invented by the church to supersede the pagan holiday of Lupercalia (a festival of love) which was held in mid February. With this now known I wondered how paper hearts, chocolate, flowers and the occasional diamond became iconic to this day? It seems that the romantic side of Valentine’s Day came about in the 14th century with the help of Geoffrey Chaucer. It is also thought that the the first Valentine was a note that was written by St Valentine to the jailers daughter before he was beheaded. In the 1700’s people started making handmade notes to give to loved ones on February 14th in honor of the Feast of St Valentine and by the 1800’s commercially made Valentine’s started to appear. In the early 1870’s a 19 year old American by the name of Esther Howland brought Valentines Day to America by commercially producing her own cards for the occasion. So, over the many following years flowers and chocolates became part of the Valentine’s Day giving festivities and supposedly in the 1980’s the diamond industries were said to have started promoting giving diamonds on this day of love. What ever the true story of Valentine’s Day is let us be thankful that we have a day dedicated to love but wouldn’t it be wonderful to show our love for our family and friends all year long.

This is a Valentine I made up for a friend. This is simple to do. Just fill a canning jar with chocolates put the lid back on and tie a ribbon or jute around the neck of the jar. I attached small wooden hearts to the end of the jute with glue.