You’re Just “Write” For Me

In grade school we looked forward to the exchange of Valentine’s Day cards with each of our classmates. Boys and girls, both, received one. Some of us made and gave valentine cards to our mothers, fathers and grandparents. As adults, we expect to give and receive a card from our significant others because nothing expresses love and friendship better than a Valentine’s Day card.

Valentine’s Day traces its roots back to the ancient Roman fertility festival, Lupercalia, and to legends about St. Valentine, a third century priest executed for continuing to wed couples despite a prohibition on marriage.

Another possible Saint Valentine – of Terni – was also martyred. In centuries since then, lovers, friends and sometimes even foes have exchanged valentine cards on February 14 to express playful flirtation and humor in sometimes whimsical and biting prose.

According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first valentine greeting to a young girl—possibly his jailor’s daughter—who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine,” an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is questionable, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a romantic figure.

The oldest known Valentine's Day message in the English language was uncovered by the British Library. Written in Norfolk in 1470, the Valentine message celebrates the love of Margery Brews for her imprisoned fiancé, John Paston. A library spokesman said that, while the language used to word them may have changed, the sentiments expressed in the message would find sympathy with many people living today.

“And if you command me to keep me true wherever I go, indeed I will do all my might you to love and never anyone else.

And if my friends say that I do amiss, they shall not stop me from doing so.

My heart me bids evermore to love you truly over all earthly things.”

In 1590, Sir Edmund Spenser is said to have coined a phrase which is used in many valentine cards today:

In the 18th century, the poem turned into a nursery rhyme: blue, the honey’s sweet and so are you.”

If ancient Rome was the beginning of Valentine's Day, the English Victorians created the holiday we know today.

In 1840, with Great Britain’s introduction of the Uniform Penny Post, valentine cards could be mailed for just one penny, and the mass produced valentine card was born.

Initially, these were handmade. Lovers would decorate paper with romantic symbols including flowers and love knots, often including puzzles and lines of poetry. Those who were less inspired could buy books that offered the appropriate language and images to curry favor with their lovers. These cards were then slipped under a door or tied to a door knocker.

Some Victorians created special valentines from material purchased at a stationer’s shop: lace, bits of mirror, bows and ribbons, seashells and seeds, gold and silver foil appliqués, silk flowers, and printed mottoes like “Be Mine” and “Constant and True.”

For those on not so good terms, or who wanted to fend off an unwanted suitor, “vinegar valentines” offered a stinging alternative.

“To My Valentine / ‘Tis a lemon that I hand you and bid you now ‘skidoo,’ Because I love another— there is no chance for you.”

Another depicts a woman dousing an unsuspecting man with a bucket of water. “Here’s a cool reception,” it warns, telling the “old fellow” that he “best stop away.”

Americans probably began exchanging handmade valentines in the early 1700s.

In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Esther, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as “scrap.” valentines while the assembly group was responsible for carefully copying each card. Esther also hired women who worked from home to prepare a box with all the materials required. A week later, they would be picked up by a driver and turned over to Esther for their inspection. It's been said that her girls were paid "liberally" and that work was pleasant.” She also would inspect every card that was produced by her assistants. Her early cards contained short four line verses pasted inside much like earlier English valentines. This setup would eventually become standard for the valentine market. Although Valentine's Day cards had been available in America for more than half a century before Esther started her business, she was the first person to ever commercialize them in America. printed cards were à la mode for many years. Today, the craze of handmade has cycled back around and cards of all shapes, sizes, colors and patterns are created, given, sold and purchased every year come the season of love. According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 145 million Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest cardsending holiday of the year –1.6 billion cards are sent at Christmas.

When Esther first began creating valentine cards, elaborate greeting cards were imported from Europe and not affordable to many Americans. Determined that she could make a better valen tine, she developed a thriving business in Worcester, Massachusetts, using an assembly line. Esther was in charge of cut ting the basic design for the individual

Valentine's Day cards have changed over time. With the invention of print

In addition to the United States and the United Kingdom, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico,