Remember When: Examining the history of Valentine's Day reveals some interesting stories, customs

There are a number of differing theories about the origin of Valentine’s Day.

Some trace it to the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, which is observed on Feb. 15 each year. During this festival, each male participant would randomly choose a woman’s name from a large urn. She would then be his companion for the event.

Because of its pagan origins and practices, Pope Gelasius banned participation in the festival by Christians. The festival was extremely popular, and people were reluctant to abandon it. So, as an alternative, in the year 496 the pope established the feast of St. Valentine on Feb. 14 as a substitute and proposed that the faithful randomly draw the names of saints from a similar urn for them to emulate.

St. Valentine’s story dates back to the third century, when Roman emperor Claudius II believed that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and children, so he initiated a ban on marriage for young men.

A priest named Valentine defied the emperor’s ruling and continued to perform marriages in secret. When Claudius discovered the priest’s actions, he had him put to death, and Valentine thereby joined the rank of Christian saints.

The oldest valentine in existence today is a poem written in 1415 by the Duke of Orleans to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London after his capture at the Battle of Agincourt.

Fast-forwarding to the 1700s, it was common in the United States for friends and lovers to exchange handwritten notes and tokens of friendship on Valentine’s Day. One could purchase small books imported from England that contained poetry and sonnets that could be copied onto their personal stationery and sent as valentines.

The first commercial valentines appeared just after 1800 and were rather plain. But because of their popularity, by 1830, finer versions began to be offered adorned with satin, ribbons and lace. They included familiar themes such as cupids, doves and lover’s knots.

In the later part of the 1800s until around 1920, a new form of valentine appeared on the market known as vinegar valentines. These were parodies of traditional valentine cards, often printed on cheap paper with cartoon-like illustrations.

Vinegar valentines usually were sent anonymously and were insulting in nature. They often attacked a person’s competency in their profession, their appearance or their vanity.

The sender often would take great pleasure as he watched the recipient of a vinegar valentine accuse all those he encountered as being the possible culprit.

Valentine’s Day eve and morning also was a time in which single people attempted to foretell who they would fall in love with and marry.

In one technique, a young woman might sprinkle bay leaves with rose water and pin them on the corners of her pillow. She would then don a clean night dress turned inside out and recite: “Good Valentine, be kind to me and in my dreams let my true love see.”

It was believed that, while sleeping, she would have a vision of her future mate.

In another custom, a young woman would hold an apple by its stem and while slowly twisting it, she would recite the names of potential suitors. The name she was saying at the time the stem broke would be her future husband. She would then cut the apple in half and count the seeds to determine the number of children they would have.

In one ritual, it was believed the first eligible person that you saw on Valentine’s Day morning would be your future mate. Wealthy women were known to keep their eyes covered until a suitable candidate came courting.

It also was believed that the first bird that a young woman would see on Valentine’s Day would determine much about her future husband. If she saw a sparrow, she would marry someone poor. If she saw a goldfinch, she would marry a millionaire. If it was a blackbird, she would marry a clergyman, while a robin meant that her mate would be a sailor or crime-fighter.

Worst of all, if she saw a squirrel first thing in the morning, she was destined to marry a cheapskate.

In former times, stamps on the envelopes of valentine cards and love letters also could be used to carry secret messages past the watchful gaze of parents and chaperones. A number of companies produced postcards which taught courting couples how to use this code.

In Victorian times, there was abooks available detailing “The Language of Flowers.”

These basically were dictionaries that listed flowers and their symbolic meanings. They were often richly illustrated with hand-painted pictures and poetry that could be used when sending a gift of flowers to a lover.

In fact, the custom of sending flower messages was so widespread that a new word, florigraphy, was added to the dictionary to describe this practice.

Rosemary was defined as meaning remembrance based on Ophelia’s line in Hamlet: “There’s rosemary, and that is for remembrance.” Shakespeare had given the herb this meaning based on the medieval belief that the herb improved memory.

Many of the meanings chosen for various flowers dated back thousands of years, based on the symbols used for Greek, Roman and Egyptian gods and goddesses. In ancient Rome, anemones were a symbol of love, and they were commonly strewn about the altars of Venus.

The language of flower books often were used when selecting flowers to give on Valentine’s Day. In the back of these books were two indexes. One listed the flowers and their meaning. The second listed sentiments alphabetically and the flower to select to express it.

One had to be very careful in the selection of flowers for the bouquet. Red roses symbolized love, and red tulips symbolized the declaration of love. However, not all flowers symbolized positive sentiments: Yellow roses symbolized infidelity and jealousy, while lavender was symbolic of distrust.

Chocolate is another popular gift on Valentine’s Day. Originally, it was very rare and considered a luxury only afforded by the wealthy. Chocolate also was believed to have aphrodisiac properties and therefore an aid in courtship.

In 1861, Cadbury began putting chocolates in heart-shaped boxes decorated with cupids and rosebuds. These boxes became immensely popular because they could be used after the chocolate was gone to hold mementos, such as locks of hair and love letters.

In the United States, Hershey introduced Hershey Kisses in 1907.

In the 1950s, one company, Morginia, was trying to introduce the concept of Valentine’s Day in Japan. Its ad campaign discussed giving gifts of chocolates. However, when the ad was published, instead of saying “Giving chocolates on Valentine’s Day is a way for men to express love to women,” it said: “Giving chocolates on Valentine’s Day is a way for women to express love to men.”

As a result, on Valentine’s Day in Japan women give chocolates to their lovers and respected co-workers.