valentine's day around here, in instagram...
lovely day
vintage valentines
history lesson: Valentine's Day
i've heard (okay, so maybe seen on facebook is more accurate) a number of people in the last few weeks talking about how Valentine's Day is just a 'holiday invented by the greeting card, candy, and floral companies'. of course, i see where this kind of sentiment is coming from- it has become awfully commercialized and seems to have been reduced to a cheesy jewelry ad- but as someone who (as i mentioned yesterday) has always enjoyed Valentine's Day, i set out to find out what the history of the holiday is and see if it could be redeemed from corporate America.
there are a number of legends, from very different cultures, that contributed to the creation of Valentine's Day...
a pagan festival
until the 5th century, the Roman festival Lupercalia- a fertility festival- was celebrated in mid February. this festival was believed to have included animal sacrifice, after which the hides would be cut into strips and priests would go about gently slapping woman and crops with these strips. being touched by this hide was believed to make women more fertile in the coming year. during the festival, according to legend, all the single women would place their names in an urn and the bachelors would later draw names and pair up for the year with the woman whose name they drew. it was said that many marriages resulted from these pairings. somewhere around the end of the 5th century February 14th was declared Saint Valentine's Day by Pope Gelasius and Lupercalia was outlawed.
a saint...or three
the Catholic church recognizes three saints named Valentine (or Valentinus), all of whom were martyred. there are several legends surrounding these saints and from what i could find, it's not certain which is the saint the day officially honors. one Saint Valentine was purported to be a priest in 3rd century Rome when Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men, believing that single men made better soldiers. Valentine saw the injustice of this decree and defied the emperor by continuing to perform marriages in secret. When his actions were discovered, Claudius ordered Valentine be put to death.
other legends around Saint Valentine suggest he was imprisoned and killed for helping Christians escape Roman prisions, where beatings and torture were common. some even say that Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' from prison- after falling in love with his jailor's daughter, who visited him in prison. before he died, it is said he sent her a note signed 'from your Valentine'.
regardless of who Saint Valentine actually was, the stories all seem to feature him as a heroic, sympathetic, and romantic figure, and by the middle ages he became one of the most popular saints in both England and France.
the birds and the bees
during the middle ages, in England and France at least, the belief that February 14th was the beginning of bird mating season, contributed to Valentine's Day being associated with romance. Chaucer may have actually had a hand in establishing the day as a day of romance with his poem 'The Parliament of the Fowls'.
will you be mine
the oldest existing valentine known today was a poem by Charles, Duke of Orleans, written in 1415. the poem was written to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London after being captured at the Battle of Agincourt.
by the middle of the 18th century, it was common for people to exchange notes and small tokens of affection and by 1900, with the advent of better printing technology and affordable postage, valentines were often printed cards. today it is estimated that 1 billion valentines are sent in the U.S. each year.
while Valentine's Day may have gone off track, it does appear to be more than just a conspiracy by the greeting card companies! so- have i changed your mind about Valentine's Day? do you love it? hate it? i'd love (no pun intended) to hear your thoughts!
(online sources for today's history lesson: History, Catholic News Service, National Geographic News).
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| this guy- he's not corporate America! 'love rocks' valentines and photo from Bunny Cakes |
there are a number of legends, from very different cultures, that contributed to the creation of Valentine's Day...
a pagan festival
until the 5th century, the Roman festival Lupercalia- a fertility festival- was celebrated in mid February. this festival was believed to have included animal sacrifice, after which the hides would be cut into strips and priests would go about gently slapping woman and crops with these strips. being touched by this hide was believed to make women more fertile in the coming year. during the festival, according to legend, all the single women would place their names in an urn and the bachelors would later draw names and pair up for the year with the woman whose name they drew. it was said that many marriages resulted from these pairings. somewhere around the end of the 5th century February 14th was declared Saint Valentine's Day by Pope Gelasius and Lupercalia was outlawed.
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| i had a very hard time finding a family friendly image for Lupercalia, so instead i went with this awesome vintage wolf tee. Lupercalia was named as such in honor of the wolf, or canis lupus, who nursed the founders of Rome. photo and tee from Shop Glovebox. |
a saint...or three
the Catholic church recognizes three saints named Valentine (or Valentinus), all of whom were martyred. there are several legends surrounding these saints and from what i could find, it's not certain which is the saint the day officially honors. one Saint Valentine was purported to be a priest in 3rd century Rome when Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men, believing that single men made better soldiers. Valentine saw the injustice of this decree and defied the emperor by continuing to perform marriages in secret. When his actions were discovered, Claudius ordered Valentine be put to death.
other legends around Saint Valentine suggest he was imprisoned and killed for helping Christians escape Roman prisions, where beatings and torture were common. some even say that Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' from prison- after falling in love with his jailor's daughter, who visited him in prison. before he died, it is said he sent her a note signed 'from your Valentine'.
regardless of who Saint Valentine actually was, the stories all seem to feature him as a heroic, sympathetic, and romantic figure, and by the middle ages he became one of the most popular saints in both England and France.
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| mosaic of Saint Valentine from Church of the Dormition in Jerusalem. photo from Catholic News Service. |
the birds and the bees
during the middle ages, in England and France at least, the belief that February 14th was the beginning of bird mating season, contributed to Valentine's Day being associated with romance. Chaucer may have actually had a hand in establishing the day as a day of romance with his poem 'The Parliament of the Fowls'.
 |
| Geoffrey Chaucer. public domain image. |
will you be mine
the oldest existing valentine known today was a poem by Charles, Duke of Orleans, written in 1415. the poem was written to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London after being captured at the Battle of Agincourt.
by the middle of the 18th century, it was common for people to exchange notes and small tokens of affection and by 1900, with the advent of better printing technology and affordable postage, valentines were often printed cards. today it is estimated that 1 billion valentines are sent in the U.S. each year.
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| 1861 Valentine's Day image from Harper's Weekly. public domain image. |
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| 1920's valentine and photo from the Vintage Valentine Museum. |
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| 1930's valentine. photo from the Vintage Valentine Museum. |
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| 1950's valentine. photo from the Vintage Valentine Museum. |
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| 1960's valentine. photo from the Vintage Valentine Museum. |
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| 1980's 'Get Along Gang' valentines (I totally had these guys!). photo from Frugal Fairy Vintage. |
while Valentine's Day may have gone off track, it does appear to be more than just a conspiracy by the greeting card companies! so- have i changed your mind about Valentine's Day? do you love it? hate it? i'd love (no pun intended) to hear your thoughts!
(online sources for today's history lesson: History, Catholic News Service, National Geographic News).
valentine crafty round up
those who know me know there are two things i love (well, hundreds of things really, but these are two of them): giving presents and handmade crafty-ness.
for that reason, i've always loved valentine's day (even for the many, many years i was a single gal). i look at it as just one more excuse to make and give the people i care about crafty presents! i know others find it cheesy, or think it's some kind of greeting card company holiday (i'll be sharing about the history of valentine's day tomorrow), but i enjoy it.
this year though, i haven't had much energy and other than making a gift for my mister (which i am dying to share with you, but it'll have to wait until wednesday), i haven't done anything for valentine's day. thanks to the magic of the internet however, i can live vicariously through all the crafty goodness everyone else is sharing with the world, and you can too!
so here's a round up of my favorite valentine's projects- most of which can (and should) be made with vintage materials...
cupid's arrow sweater embellishment from Elegant Musings- perfect for a vintage cardigan with a hole or other imperfection that needs covering up!
a new friend from Alt and fellow Seattleite, Brianne, has a sweet and simple vintage scrap bookmark how-to on her site- The Ravenna Girls.
another Seattleite pal, Megan from Not Martha posted a great tutorial for valentine's day surprise crackers! crackers have been around since 1847 and though generally used at Christmas, they can make any day or event special! find out more about the history at Absolutely Crackers).
The Lettered Cottage has a great cupcake stand DIY, using vintage plates and other fun things. this would be so cute at a valentine's party!
one of my favorite design sites, Design Sponge, had so many cute valentine's projects last year! my two favorites:
repurposed packaging in old cigar boxes from the BBB Craft Sisters. so many ways to use this idea!
and the
vintage typewriter tin valentine from Ashley. i even have a typewriter tin sitting on a shelf right now, i might have to whip one of these up today!
i dug back all the way to 2010 for this cute vintage spool valentine idea from Papernstitch.
one of my recent favorites- these arrow valentines from Two Shades of Pink. (i'll admit it, i'm a bit obsessed with arrows)! these are so easy and you could incorporate so many vintage materials- fabric, paper, yarn, measuring tapes, tags, and more!
speaking of my arrow obsession, another one of my new pals from Alt, Muffin, has an entire week of free valentine's downloads on her site- Sweet Muffin Suite, and i love this printable arrow valentine! the mister and i were planning to make these on saturday, but cleaning and chores got in the way. sad. i think these would be so cute with vintage pencils inside!
today i stumbled upon these beautiful photos on Simply Bloom Photography and thought- cootie catchers (you know, those origami fortune teller things) would be such a fun valentine! did you make these when you were a kid? i remember making them with my friends from daycare (these, and playing MASH were extremely popular daycare activities)! Ruffled has a PDF template with instructions on how to make them.
what are you making for valentine's day? i'd love it if you'd share a link or send me a photo!
p.s. i'm experimenting with photo size today. if you love or hate the extra big photos, leave me a comment to let me know!
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| photo and tote bag from Not Made in China. |
for that reason, i've always loved valentine's day (even for the many, many years i was a single gal). i look at it as just one more excuse to make and give the people i care about crafty presents! i know others find it cheesy, or think it's some kind of greeting card company holiday (i'll be sharing about the history of valentine's day tomorrow), but i enjoy it.
 |
| photo and 'Wheelie' valentine from Thirty Handmade Days. |
this year though, i haven't had much energy and other than making a gift for my mister (which i am dying to share with you, but it'll have to wait until wednesday), i haven't done anything for valentine's day. thanks to the magic of the internet however, i can live vicariously through all the crafty goodness everyone else is sharing with the world, and you can too!
 |
| photo and 'Crafty Like a Fox' pattern by Penelope Waits. |
so here's a round up of my favorite valentine's projects- most of which can (and should) be made with vintage materials...
cupid's arrow sweater embellishment from Elegant Musings- perfect for a vintage cardigan with a hole or other imperfection that needs covering up!
a new friend from Alt and fellow Seattleite, Brianne, has a sweet and simple vintage scrap bookmark how-to on her site- The Ravenna Girls.
another Seattleite pal, Megan from Not Martha posted a great tutorial for valentine's day surprise crackers! crackers have been around since 1847 and though generally used at Christmas, they can make any day or event special! find out more about the history at Absolutely Crackers).
The Lettered Cottage has a great cupcake stand DIY, using vintage plates and other fun things. this would be so cute at a valentine's party!
one of my favorite design sites, Design Sponge, had so many cute valentine's projects last year! my two favorites:
repurposed packaging in old cigar boxes from the BBB Craft Sisters. so many ways to use this idea!
and the
vintage typewriter tin valentine from Ashley. i even have a typewriter tin sitting on a shelf right now, i might have to whip one of these up today!
i dug back all the way to 2010 for this cute vintage spool valentine idea from Papernstitch.
one of my recent favorites- these arrow valentines from Two Shades of Pink. (i'll admit it, i'm a bit obsessed with arrows)! these are so easy and you could incorporate so many vintage materials- fabric, paper, yarn, measuring tapes, tags, and more!
speaking of my arrow obsession, another one of my new pals from Alt, Muffin, has an entire week of free valentine's downloads on her site- Sweet Muffin Suite, and i love this printable arrow valentine! the mister and i were planning to make these on saturday, but cleaning and chores got in the way. sad. i think these would be so cute with vintage pencils inside!
last year i had a blast making flavored butters, inspired by Maize Hutton's 'Spread the Love' post. this year she even has a printable PDF so you can make an easy and cute label! another project with so many ways to use some vintage- fabric for the covers, paper for the labels, even vintage jars to make the butter in!
today i stumbled upon these beautiful photos on Simply Bloom Photography and thought- cootie catchers (you know, those origami fortune teller things) would be such a fun valentine! did you make these when you were a kid? i remember making them with my friends from daycare (these, and playing MASH were extremely popular daycare activities)! Ruffled has a PDF template with instructions on how to make them.
what are you making for valentine's day? i'd love it if you'd share a link or send me a photo!
p.s. i'm experimenting with photo size today. if you love or hate the extra big photos, leave me a comment to let me know!