St. Valentines Day!

Ok, so you've all celebrated it since you were in Kindergarten. The little party after lunch where they handed out cookies covered in red sprinkles and boxes of chalk flavored Be Mine! and Love Ya conversation hearts then everyone passes out valentines. The characters featured depend on when you grew up, but they may have feature Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles declaring you "totally rad", Pokemon cards "glad I caught YOU valentine!" or maybe some sweet hand made ones with terrible word play.

But do you know who St. Valentine was? Surprise! It's not a single St. we celebrate on February 14th. St. Valentines day mixes bits of Christian and Roman tradition. According to the Catholic church there are three different martyrs named Valentine. In the third century in Rome marriage was outlawed because the Emperor decided single men made better soldiers than married ones. Valentine defied the Emperor and wed couples in secret. He was put to death when the Emperor found out. How romantic.

So why February 14th? And why all the mushy gushy love and valentines gifts? Christians decided to place St. Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to "Christianize" the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Sneaky Christians. During the Middle Ages in France and England they believed February 14 was the beginning of birds' mating season bringing out the idea that the middle of Valentine's Day should be a day for romance.

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine's didn't begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. (The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.

We had so much fun today. Eira-lynn got her Valentine gifts when she got up. This afternoon we made cupcakes for our "dinner party". For dinner I made heart shaped berry pancakes, eggs and fried potatos. We decorated the table with valentines day balloons, valentines day cups, the cupcakes and flowers. Even some sparkling grape juice to be extra special.