Saint Valentine's day

Today is Valentine’s day and I am yet to meet the person who enjoy’s this day as it is supposed to be enjoyed. If you are single, it is a depressing reminder of that situation even for those who for the other days of the year are perfectly happy, something creeps in on Valentine’s day. For those in a couple it is another day in the year to spend money on presents, chocolates, cards, pink Champagne and so on and so on.

Antique Valentine’s card

So to start ‘ATELIER TALLY Paper Week‘, I wanted to trace us back to the origins of the Valentine’s card in hope of a meaning I can enjoy.

So, it is 14th February 400 BC (stay with me people) and the Romans are having a festival to partner two young people. Names of teenage women put in a box and drawn at random by adolescent men. The winners are legally-partnered for one year.

This was all that was allowed as Emperor Claudius had banned marriage for the sake of better soldiers however a Christian bishop, Valentine, began secretly marrying people. Angered by this, Claudius had Valentine killed on 24th February 270 AD (that isn’t a typo, it was not the 14th February).

The festival changed and became a day to find love. Later it was named in honour of the Saint Valentine who had tried to keep love alive.

Esther Howland Valentine, circa 1850: “Weddings now are all the go, Will you marry me or no”?

So onto some papery fun… many years later on, women in Europe carried lace handkerchief’s and if a woman dropped her handkerchief, a man nearby might pick it up and return it to her. Sometimes a woman might see a man she wanted to flirt and meet. She might drop her lace handkerchief on purpose to encourage romance. Soon people thought of romance when they thought of lace. They began using paper lace to decorate chocolate boxes and Valentine cards.

And so the tradition began. The earliest known card that still exists is currently in the British Museum. It was sent by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife. He was a prisoner in the Tower of London at the time and so his feelings of love were probably more acute than most!

The first manufactured Valentine’s card was by an American Esther Howland charging $35 back in 1870, using paper lace in her designs based upon the earlier flirting techniques.

Valentine card, 1862: “My dearest Miss, I send thee a kiss” addressed to Miss Jenny Lane of Crostwight Hall, Smallburgh, Norfolk.

Folk art Valentine and envelope dated 1875 addressed to Clara Dunn of Newfield, New Jersey

Modern day has changed this tradition somewhat, although there is a lot of creative still alive around the showing of love on this one day of the year.

I love this video and all of it’s papery goodness. It even made a cynic like me smile…

So, if you are yet to give a Valentine’s card, remember that Saint Valentine died for love and over the years we might have manufactured cards but the meaning remains. Write a note to someone and send to someone who presses your buttons.