Sugar and Spice

How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? Dinner? Gifts? Or do you participate in the most common of Valentine’s traditions and exchange cards with your loved one? Did you know that Valentine’s Day is second only to Christmas in the number of cards given? But where did the practice originate? And what did Valentine’s cards look like years ago?

Obviously, centuries ago people weren’t heading to their local Hallmark to pick up a card for their loved one. Valentines started as simple, handwritten notes of love. The earliest known Valentine was written in 1415 by Charles, a French medieval duke imprisoned in the Tower of London, to his wife. During the 17th century, exchanging Valentines (still mostly simple, handwritten notes) became a more regular practice, and by the 18th century a Valentine sender was more likely to adorn their message of love with flowers, hearts, maybe birds, and they would often seal their note with wax and leave it on a lady’s doorstep. 

Although mass-production of Valentines began in Great Britain in the late 18th century, Esther Howland of Massachusetts, often referred to as the “Mother of the American Valentine,” is said to have created the first American mass-produced Valentines in the 1840s. These weren’t like the mass-produced Valentines of today, however. These three-dimensional beauties were carefully crafted using ribbon and lace and sold for no less than $5.

It was also around this same time that “vinegar” Valentines became popular. These Valentines delivered a message quite the opposite of love. An example of language from one that was preserved: “To My Valentine: ‘Tis a lemon that I hand you and bid you now ‘skidoo,’ because I love another—there is no chance for you.” Some containing gentle jabs, some downright mean-spirited, they were often sent COD, so not only was the greeting likely insulting, but the recipient had to pay to read the insult.

Once mass-production of Valentines began, the exchange of cards truly took off. Today, it is estimated that 145 million Valentines are exchanged in the United States alone. So if you do exchange cards with your Valentine, you are in good company.

However you celebrate the day (or don’t celebrate it), I do hope that your life is filled with love this Valentine’s Day.