Happy Valentines Day

History: Saint Valentine's Day (Feb. 14)

Originally the Roman feast of Lupercalia, it was Christianized in memory of the martyr St. Valentine (d. A.D. 270). In the Middle Ages, Valentine became associated with the union of lovers under conditions of duress. Today the holiday is celebrated with the exchange of romantic or comic messages called "valentines."

According to the Greeting Card

In Great Britain, Valentine's Day began to be popularly celebrated around the seventeenth century. By the middle of the eighteenth century, it was common for friends and lovers in all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes. By the end of the century, printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one's feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine's Day greetings. Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began to sell the first mass-produced valentines in America.

Mush Through the Ages:  A Few Famous Utterances

Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove: O no! it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering bark, Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come: Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

 William Shakespeare,  Sonnet CXVI. 

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height 
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight 
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. 
I love thee to the level of everyday's 
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. 
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; 
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. 
I love thee with the passion put to use 
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. 
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose 
With my lost saints,---I love thee with the breath, 
Smiles, tears, of all my life!---and, if God choose, 
I shall but love thee better after death.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, How Do I Love Thee?

Valentines Activities: "Hey, Honey, Let's Try This..."

Find the hidden Valentines words: