Beautiful, Vintage Valentines

A Little Bit of History

and 

Pictures of Vintage Valentines

Who was the real St. Valentine?  There were multiple St. Valentines (including the decapitated ones), but it was a medieval poet who established the holiday's romantic tradition. 

It is on February 14th that we celebrate this day by sharing red roses, chocolates, fancy dinners or special teas, or beautiful Valentine cards with the loved ones in our life. We do this in the name of Saint Valentine. But who was this saint of romance?

One St. Valentine was supposedly a Roman priest who performed secret wedding against the wishes of the authorities in the third century. While imprisoned in the house of a noble, it's said he healed his captor's blind daughter, causing the whole household to convert to Christianity and sealing his fate. Before being tortured and decapitated on February 14, he sent the girl a note signed "Your Valentine".

Some say another saint named Valentine during the same period was the Bishop of Terni, also credited with secret weddings and martyrdom via beheading on February 14. 

There are some of those who say there is very little basis for these accounts. The fact is, Valentine's Day only became associated with love in the late Middle Ages thanks to the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer.

So how did Chaucer create the Valentine's Day we know today? In the 1370's or 1380's he wrote a poem called "Parliament of Fowl's" that contains this line: "For this was on St. Valentine's Day, when every bird comest here to choose his mate". 

By the 1400's, nobles inspired by Chaucer had begun writing poems known as "valentines" to their love interests. It was only at this point that stories began to appear linking Saint Valentine to Remance.

The above taken from History Show, This Day in History.

Formal messages, or valentines, appeared in the 1500's and by the late 1700"s commercially printed cards were being used, the first commercial valentines in the United States were printed in the mid 1800's.

Taken from: More from Britannica.

Here are some pictures of Vintage Valentines

I hope this helped brighten up your winter day.

No sewing this time, but I am working on a small counted  cross stitch piece. Hope to get it done in time to share before Valentines Day. Gosh, I better hurry!

See you soon.

Blessings, Jan