Thursday Thirteen No. 18: Valentine's Day Lore

Sure as the grape grows on the vine
So sure you are my valentine
The rose is red, the violet blue
Lilies are fair, and so are you!

Not so long ago, I was up on the historical significance of each holiday and could name the pagans who had a hand in shaping our contemporary festivals. My daughter and I made almost daily trips to the library to fill our book bag with Culturally Important stuff. Alas, my memory bank went the way of the book bag into the great unknown.

Now, while my daughter is reading Culturally Important Chapter Books like Harry Potter and Inkheart, I'm back in the picture books trying to learn a thing or two. In time for Valentine's Day, I've picked up these bits and pieces. I wrote them down before I could forget them.

1. The heart is a symbol of the human heart. That's easy enough. This most vital organ of our being was once believed to contain the soul. In fact, the ancient Egyptians thought it was the source of intelligence.

2. If that naked fellow known as Cupid should poke your heart with an arrow, count on a bout of that most pleasant of maladies of lovesickness.

3. Who is Cupid? That wily little winged sharpshooter was known as Eros to the ancient Greeks. Despite his mother's best efforts, he falls in love and stays in love with the mortal psyche, who proves to be quite a handful. The upshot: Jupiter turns the mortal Psyche into a goddess and they live happily ever after. (Click here for Cupid's back story.)

4. How this handsome, chivalrous god was reduced to a fat, naked baby whose silhouette is often pasted to the sides of shoeboxes that become children's Valentine's Day mailboxes, I don't know. Maybe Cupid didn't have a very good agent. Nevertheless, those

5. Classroom mailboxes also have Roman antecedents. During the Roman festival of Lupercalia, young men would draw the names of young ladies from an urn. In this way, they paired up for the festivities.

6. Lupercalia was a Roman festival celebrating the founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus that took place in what we call February, which comes from the Latin and is loosely translated as "to make clean."

7. Of course, when the Christian church had some muscle to flex, it wanted to cleanse its believers of these pagan ideas and channeled all of this festivity into a day for a few historical figures who went by the name of Valentine. These sainted men died for love one way or another. One committed the heinous act of marrying young couples against the wishes of the war-mongering Roman emperor who believed marriage robbed a man of his vigor. Another restored sight to his jailer's blind daughter.

8. After the sight-restoring Val was beheaded, a pink almond tree near his grave burst into bloom as a symbol of lasting love. Few of us receive pink almond trees for Valentine's Day, though some of us have received

9. Roses, which since the time of Solomon have been closely linked to love. Greek gods Bacchus and Venus favored the rose, as did wealthy Roman mortals, who liked to lie on beds of rose petals.

10. Some of us are just as happy with a Valentine's Day card, itself a throwback to the Lupercalia festivals. Some young men even pinned the name of the young lady they selected to their sleeve. So it's true: Hallmarks really are another way to wear your heart on your sleeve.

11. The priciest of greetings are usually the ones adorned with bits of lace and ribbon. These items recall the tokens maidens would give their knights in shining armor, when they rode off to battle.

12. Of course, before you do any of this, you might want to take a nice warm bath if you want to sit close to the object of your affection. Valentine's Day does herald the mating season, after all. For this reason, doves and love birds are among the Valentine's Day symbols. These feathered friends return to the roost to mate at this time of year. Why not join the fun?

13. If you go to the trouble of bathing, buying a card and flowers, and showing up on time, you might as well have a box of chocolate under your arm, too. This tradition is steeped in history, too. Back in the day when it was considered normal to be hungry all the time, children went about singing Valentine's Day songs and received currant buns for their troubles. The bun has given way to the heart-shaped cake and to the heart-shaped chocolate box.

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. (Song of Solomon 2:12)