Of pennydreadfuls & Lupercalia - 02/12/04 03:05 AM
Our regional antiques expert, Arthur Schwerdt, had some interesting linguistic tidbits pertaining to Valentines to share in his Cape May County Herald column today.
> "pennydreadfuls" - With advances in printing in the 1800s, several kinds of crudely illustrated Valentine post cards were printed. These were called "pennydreadfuls," because it was said that a young lady would prefer to receive no Valentine at all than one of those horrific store-bought atrocities. [my insert: according to the column it was customary before this to make all Valentines by hand; for an intriguing, and short, history of how Valentines came to be and developed click the link below]
> "Vinegar Valentines" - At that time there was also an odd, and thankfully short-lived [although Pfranz would've loved this one
], tradition of sending purposely insulting Valentines ( like, "I'd never marry an ugly thing like you in a million years"). These were supposed to be endearingly humorous, but were quickly named "Vinegar Valentines."
>"Worcester Valentines" - [to paraphrase: Around 1840, an enterprising and ambitous young student at Holyoke Collge, Esther A Holland, whose father was a stationer in Worcester, MASS, decided she would go into business for herself to make Valentines to sell to folks who didn't have the time to make the highly prized hand-made variety. In her first year she grossed $5,000, an enormous sum for the times, then she hired artists and marketers, and soon her business was doing $100,000 a year, an unheard of sum in those days. These highly sought after cards [both then and, now, on the antigues market] are called "Worcester Valentines". [keep those eyes peeled at flea markets and garage sales, folks!...especially up in your neck of the woods, eta and wow]]
>"Lupercalia" - Valentine's Day coincides with the Roman festival of "Lupercalia" (like Christmas coincides with "Saturnalia") Lupercus (from the Latin, lupus, meaning wolf, was the god who helped shepherds protect their flocks. During one of the festival's games, the men of the town leered like wolves as they chose by lottery from the flock of local virgins, the written name of who would be their mate for the following year. [hey! I like this game guys! let's bring it back!
]
[I guess now we know where the expression "wolf" came from for men with an eye for the ladies]
For the complete column with more background on Valentine's Day history and traditions, and more details on the above excerpts, click here:
http://www.capemaycountyherald.com/index.cfm?CID=news_list&Section_ID=3
Hope Cupid finds ya!
> "pennydreadfuls" - With advances in printing in the 1800s, several kinds of crudely illustrated Valentine post cards were printed. These were called "pennydreadfuls," because it was said that a young lady would prefer to receive no Valentine at all than one of those horrific store-bought atrocities. [my insert: according to the column it was customary before this to make all Valentines by hand; for an intriguing, and short, history of how Valentines came to be and developed click the link below]
> "Vinegar Valentines" - At that time there was also an odd, and thankfully short-lived [although Pfranz would've loved this one
], tradition of sending purposely insulting Valentines ( like, "I'd never marry an ugly thing like you in a million years"). These were supposed to be endearingly humorous, but were quickly named "Vinegar Valentines.">"Worcester Valentines" - [to paraphrase: Around 1840, an enterprising and ambitous young student at Holyoke Collge, Esther A Holland, whose father was a stationer in Worcester, MASS, decided she would go into business for herself to make Valentines to sell to folks who didn't have the time to make the highly prized hand-made variety. In her first year she grossed $5,000, an enormous sum for the times, then she hired artists and marketers, and soon her business was doing $100,000 a year, an unheard of sum in those days. These highly sought after cards [both then and, now, on the antigues market] are called "Worcester Valentines". [keep those eyes peeled at flea markets and garage sales, folks!...especially up in your neck of the woods, eta and wow]]
>"Lupercalia" - Valentine's Day coincides with the Roman festival of "Lupercalia" (like Christmas coincides with "Saturnalia") Lupercus (from the Latin, lupus, meaning wolf, was the god who helped shepherds protect their flocks. During one of the festival's games, the men of the town leered like wolves as they chose by lottery from the flock of local virgins, the written name of who would be their mate for the following year. [hey! I like this game guys! let's bring it back!
][I guess now we know where the expression "wolf" came from for men with an eye for the ladies]
For the complete column with more background on Valentine's Day history and traditions, and more details on the above excerpts, click here:
http://www.capemaycountyherald.com/index.cfm?CID=news_list&Section_ID=3
Hope Cupid finds ya!
