Valentine 39;s Day Pdf Download ##VERIFIED##
Stina Eastlund
The 8th-century Gelasian Sacramentary recorded the celebration of the Feast of Saint Valentine on February 14.[10][11] The day became associated with romantic love in the 14th and 15th centuries when notions of courtly love flourished, apparently by association with the "lovebirds" of early spring. In 18th-century England, it grew into an occasion for couples to express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). Valentine's Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. In the 19th century, handmade cards gave way to mass-produced greetings.[12] In Italy, Saint Valentine's keys are given to lovers "as a romantic symbol and an invitation to unlock the giver's heart", as well as to children to ward off epilepsy (called Saint Valentine's Malady).[13]
There is an additional embellishment to The Golden Legend, which according to Henry Ansgar Kelly, was added in the 18th century and widely repeated.[35] On the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he is supposed to have written the first "valentine" card himself, addressed to the daughter of his jailer Asterius, who was no longer blind, signing as "Your Valentine."[35] The expression "From your Valentine" was later adopted by modern Valentine letters.[36] This legend has been published by both American Greetings and The History Channel.[37]
The earliest surviving valentines in English appear to be those in the Paston Letters, written in 1477 by Margery Brewes to her future husband John Paston "my right well-beloved Valentine".[66]
In 1797, a British publisher issued The Young Man's Valentine Writer, which contained scores of suggested sentimental verses for the young lover unable to compose his own. Printers had already begun producing a limited number of cards with verses and sketches, called "mechanical valentines". Paper Valentines became so popular in England in the early 19th century that they were assembled in factories. Fancy Valentines were made with real lace and ribbons, with paper lace introduced in the mid-19th century.[70] In 1835, 60,000 Valentine cards were sent by post in the United Kingdom, despite postage being expensive.[71]
A writer in Graham's American Monthly observed in 1849, "Saint Valentine's Day ... is becoming, nay it has become, a national holyday."[81] The English practice of sending Valentine's cards was established enough to feature as a plot device in Elizabeth Gaskell's Mr. Harrison's Confessions (1851): "I burst in with my explanations: 'The valentine I know nothing about.' 'It is in your handwriting', said he coldly."[82] Since 2001, the Greeting Card Association has been giving an annual "Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary".[77]
The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately 190 million valentines are sent each year in the US. Half of those valentines are given to family members other than husband or wife, usually to children. When the valentine-exchange cards made in school activities are included the figure goes up to 1 billion, and teachers become the people receiving the most valentines.[76] The average valentine's spending has increased every year in the U.S, from $108 a person in 2010 to $131 in 2013.[87]
Valentine's Day celebrations did not catch on in India until around 1992. It was spread due to the programs in commercial TV channels, such as MTV, dedicated radio programs, and love letter competitions, in addition to an economical liberalization that allowed the explosion of the valentine card industry.[118][120] The celebration has caused a sharp change on how people have been displaying their affection in public since the Middle Ages.[118]
Anonymous (American, 19th century). Cobweb valentine, 1847. Wood engraving, letterpress, and watercolor, Sheet: 10 1/16 x 8 11/16 in. (25.5 x 22 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Mrs. Richard Riddell, 1981 (1981.1136.555)
Among the many works on paper in The Met's Department of Drawings and Prints is a large collection of historic valentines from Europe and the United States. In paper form, these tokens of love are known from the 17th century onwards, and were either handmade or, from the mid-18th century onwards, produced as commercial products by printmakers and manufacturers of paper goods.
As a result of advances in printing and paper-making techniques, as well as the development of an efficient and inexpensive means of postal delivery, the custom of sending greeting cards and gifts on Saint Valentine's Day reached its pinnacle around the mid-19th century. The popular holiday was embraced and celebrated across all strata of society with parties, balls, and the quintessential elaborate paper greetings that became a veritable hallmark of British and American Victorian life. Whether sentimental or satirical, simple homemade missives or fancy machine-made confections, everyone hoped to receive a valentine from a beloved on February 14. Chronicling the most intimate communication between private individuals, the valentines that have been preserved give us a unique look into the sentiments, hopes, and dreams of generations of lovers, and the means through which they chose to express them.
As a cover, the cobweb formed the perfect sanctuary to enclose a private message that could only be revealed when the recipient of the card carefully pulled up the thread, causing the concentric circles of the web to rise and magically expose its hidden compartment. The concept of secrecy and the element of surprise frequently recurs in valentines, as they speak to the intimacy that has always been a part of the language of love and is one of the reasons why the cobwebs were so popular.
One of the most elegant and complex cobwebs in The Met collection uses symbols to add to the hidden message of the valentine. The attributes and symbolism of flowers, in particular, could speak to an array of secret messages or desires, which is why they recur so often in the design of many valentines. These were often painted or printed, although fabric or dried flowers were sometimes used as well.
This card's crisp and clean interior may look brand new, but the soiled exterior reflects its travails as one of the more than 60,000 that are estimated to have been sent at that time. It was folded, sealed with wax, and postmarked in 1840, when it made its way to its addressee, a Miss Eliot, at Shooter's Hill in Kent, whom, judging from the complexity and the associate cost of this valentine, must have been very important to the sender!
At first sight, this valentine seems to present a simple but elegant offering with a composition of roses, forget-me-nots, and oak branches around a painted morning glory, or convolvulus, that give little hint of the surprises this card has in store. On second view, one notices the unusual twisted base of the central flower. When very gently untwisted, it opens up to reveal a round compartment decorated with a beautiful watercolor bouquet that, in turn, contains a cobweb device: delicately lifting the thread reveals the interior image of a dove.
A special form of the cobweb valentine is the so-called double cobweb. Using a variety of paper engineering feats, double cobwebs could be arranged on the page side by side, one on top of another, or even emanating from attachments at both top and bottom (recto and verso) of the pages. The double cobwebs in The Met collection are rarities, and were donated by Mrs. Richard Ridell. Her collection reflects the inquisitive passion she had for historic ephemera, and greatly enriches the depth of our knowledge about the valentine from its English and Austrian origins.
An exquisite example of a double cobweb is this single-sheet valentine with a picturesque landscape scene in hand-colored lithography, containing a Venetian-style bridge, a romantic canopied gondola, and a stairway leading directly from the water to the church on the right. Drawings of pansies and roses further decorate the page and add to its romantic visual messages. The center has been hand-cut into a double cobweb, positioned one within the other.
It is easy to understand why today's collectors covet these cobweb valentines. Far from being ephemeral trifles, these were cherished mementos, and to many collectors like myself, their tactile quality is a very personal connection to history, individuals, and the sentimental past. It is wonderful to see that The Met recognizes the value of this material, not only as popular culture, but also as an art form that reflects an important aspect of our social history.
ffe2fad269