Artist Carnival: Saint Valentine's Day Memo

In a busy life it's possible to forget that tomorrow is Valentine's Day. The significant other in your life will be expecting some kind of token of recognition. Like every other holiday it has evolved in modern times into an excuse to spend Greeting cards, flowers, chocolates and jewelry are all standard iconic gifts -though I surprised the automobile companies haven't tried to cash in on the day. Just look what Lexus and Audi have done for Christmas. Maybe it's a sign of the times, this year heart shaped pizzas are really popular.

You might ask who was this Valentine guy? There doesn't seem to be very much information available. According to church history Valentine was martyred on February 14th. Valentine was a common name in the ancient Roman world and there could be up to three or four Saint Valentines and all their stories have been confused and combined together. One story has him executed in Rome another says it happened in North Africa.

A common story recounts Valentine was executed because he conducted secret marriages for Roman soldiers. The Roman army was the most feared and successful military force of its time and Roman Generals felt the best army was made up of single and homosexual men -married men were not always welcomed. It was also a crime to proselytize and try to covert others to Christianity. In one legend the Emperor Claudius II and Valentine were on friendly terms until Valentine tried to convert him.

Some historians feel the Feast Day of Valentine was conveniently created by the early Christian Church to take over the Roman holiday of Lupercalia. Lupercalia commemorated the She-wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus. It was also a fertility festival where naked or near naked men ran through the streets with a scourge made of goat skin. Supposedly chasing the woman around with this would help them get pregnant. And last but not least it was a love festival where the names of all the single adults where put into a lottery. Each set of men and women that were randomly paired together had to remain each other's companion for the festival.

Though Medieval times Saint Valentine's Day was a pretty sedate affair. In European folklore, February 14 was the day that song birds picked their mates. Geoffrey Chaucer used his poetic skills to connect the day with the ideal of romantic love, from there you had a slow steady trickle of romantic love going from the courtly to the common.

The next big step in the democratization and commercialization of Valentine's Day was the book, The Young Man's Valentine Writer (1797). It was a man own personal Cyrano and Cliffnotes, if he was unable to write his own poetry or verse. The first Valentine cards began to appear in the early 1800's. By mid-century they were already being mass produced.

Chocolates as a Valentine give began to appear after the American Civil War. Mexico was the original home of coco but chocolate making was a skill that was brought to the United States by German candy makers. Chocolate from the mid 1800's is very different from what most people today would think chocolate should be. In Mexico they still make that primordial chocolate. It is darker, a bit bitter and has chalky texture -it was still good. As chocolate got sweeter and more affordable its image changed from an exotic aphrodisiac to more innocent treat -but always afterwards linked with the other Valentine rituals.

So be it with chocolates, or poetry, a heart shaped pizzas or silly greeting cards that make you laugh -don't forget tomorrow is the day to let that special person in your life know how you feel about them.