Happy Valentine’s Day!
What does Valentine’s Day mean to us today, other than a warm-up holiday for George Washington’s birthday on February 22? What did it mean in the past?
The ancient Roman fertility festival, Lupercalia, was traditionally held from February 13-15 and is believed to be at the root of the holiday. As so often happened, the early Christian church overlaid the pagan festival with its own associations, providing several different martyrs named Valentine who met their ends on February 14, during the first two centuries after Christ’s death.
St. Valentine’s Day’s earliest recorded association with romantic love came from Geoffrey Chaucer’s Parlement of Foules (or “Parliament of Fowls”), written in 1382. In this work, Chaucer celebrates the engagement of royal teenagers King Richard II of England and Anne of Bohemia, noting that St. Valentine’s Day is when “every bird cometh to choose his mate.” The first written Valentine greeting is said to have been sent by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife, Bonne of Armagnac, in 1415. At the time, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. In the poem the duke talks of his love for his wife and refers to her as “my very sweet Valentine”.
At Washington College, the official winter festivity is George Washington’s Birthday
Ball, held each year near his birthday; however, in the early- to mid- decades of
the 20th century, Greek organizations on campus held Valentine dances and cotillions, notably
the Valentine Cotillion of 1936 which had an all-male planning and decorating committee.
The Opinion section of the Elm from February 14, 1974 featured a submission by Kim
Stierstorfer ’76 which mused over these questions of sentiment, noting the continuing
emphasis on ‘fertility’ in the form of double-entendre-laced cards featuring children
and woodland creatures. She believed that the customary greetings were due for a
modern overhaul, evoking images of uncomfortable lingerie: “overripe, tight-fitting,
lace fringed.”
However you choose to celebrate this weekend, may your hearts and hands be warm despite the icy temperatures. ----And consider documenting it for WC posterity, so we can feature it in our blog 50 or 90 years from now! <3
--With Love from the Archives
