St. Valentine's day is coming. It's February already, the day became longer, and it smells like spring. The mood, of course, can not be romantic. And I decided not only to see what the attributes of the upcoming holiday were before, but also to learn about its history — there should be some reason for the attacks on this day and attempts to replace it with the Day of Saints Peter and Fevronia.

It turned out that the custom of celebrating the 14th of February came to us from Ancient Rome, when on this day to pegan Romans arranged the whole orgy in honor of Goddess Juno and God Pan increase fertility. Then, there was no question of any St. Valentine yet, and it was unlikely that the Church would approve of how the ancient Romans held this holiday.

This day got the name of Valentine later, in medieval times. A Roman preacher was mentioned somewhere, who despite the Emperor prohibition wad soldiers in love, who were forbidden to marry, and also a doctor accused of using unknown magical forces, and who healed a blind girl in prison. In fact, in both cases the Valentine story ended up very sad — a young man was executed. But before that, he managed to write a letter to his beloved one, confessing in his feelings to her. That is how the custom to write romantic messages began — valentine cards in St. Valentine`s Day.

But since there is not enough information about Saint Valentine, in 20 century, the information about him was removed from the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church and after that this holiday became exclusively secular.

A symbol of it, as you know, is still messages to beloved ones, called valentine cards.

So, how did the first cards look like? The first valentines were made by hand from colored paper, painted with paints and colored inks. Everyone tried to make their valentine card special and unique. Craftspeople of that time used a variety of designs and different materials. There were also lacy valentine cards — tiny holes were pierced in the paper with a needle, which formed lace; there were acrostic valentine cards — poems on them, where each first letter of the line began with a letter of a name of a person to whom the message was addressed; there were valentine cards in the form of snowflakes and flowers; there were valentine cards containing symbols in which the message was encrypted with various signs... Some valentine cards were real pieces of art — they were sheathed with silk, decorated with satin ribbons and lace, trimmed with feathers and flowers. Sometimes even covered with gold. At first, they were made by the lovers themselves, later they were made for sale and, decorated with calligraphy inscriptions, ribbons, lace and pearls, sold out very quickly.

The most common image on the cards was Cupid, a God of Love, being the mascot of Valentine's day.

Wonderful valentine cards were made by lonely sailors, they made them from shells of different sizes, laying them in the shape of a heart, flowers and other symbols of the lovers holiday.

By the way, the oldest Valentine remained till today is the message from Duke of Orleans to his wife, which he wrote to her while in the Tower of London, in the most famous British prison. It is a darkened piece of paper, but nevertheless, it is still kept in the British Museum, and everyone can look at it.

Only at the beginning of 19 century, factories began to produce the first valentine cards as industrial production. At first, they were black and white and had to be painted by hand. Then, they learned to print and color postcards. The images of children and, of course, Cupids were the most popular.

The symbol of St. Valentine's day is the heart - an organ that is considered to be the receptacle of all human emotions and, of course, love. A man lives as long as his/her heart beats.

Doves and lovebirds are also another symbol of love and warmth. In many countries, there is a legend that these birds choose a companion for life on February 14. They prove their loyalty and devotion to true love. Doves symbolize innocence and purity, and according to an ancient legend, the goddess Venus considered the dove a sacred bird for her fidelity to her husband. Lovebirds is the proximity of loving in all meanings, just look at their photos. The cooing of these birds resembles a conversation of a loving couple, it is sweet and peaceful.

Now you get lost because of a variety of techniques and materials, and to make an original gift for St. Valentine's day can be much easier than in medieval times.

This is just one of hundreds of ideas.

Well, if you want something alredy made and professional, our website can help. I think, this is a unique place where all possible author's techniques and original ideas are collected.