Saint Valentine

Pipestone County Star 02-14-13

Valentine’s Day is the bane of men everywhere.  We all know that on February 14^th, we are supposed to shower our loved one with gifts, either flowers, chocolates, jewelry, or other appropriate things to show how much they mean to us.  But why?  And why February 14^th?

There are three possible Valentines that the Saint’s day is honoring.  One is Valentine of Rome, who was martyred around AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14^th.  His relics are in the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome and the Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland.  The second possible Valentine is Valentine of Terni, who was a bishop said to be martyred under Emperor Aurelian around AD 197.  His remains are also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location from the other Valentine.  His relics were placed in the Basilica di San Valentino in Terni.  The third Valentine that was possibly honored by the Saint’s day is a Valentine who was martyred in Africa with several companions, but nothing else is known about him.  None of these three Valentines was associated with romance, but there are popular legends.

The best legend of all, and the possible reason for the day itself, was that Emperor Claudius II had made a decree that no young men could get married.  Supposedly, this was to swell his armies, since married men made terrible soldiers (keep in mind, this is the story, not the reality).  Saint Valentine, going against the wishes of the Emperor, performed marriages in secret, thus landing himself in jail when he was caught.  The night before he was to be executed, Valentine wrote a note to the girl who held his heart, signing it “From your Valentine.”  A good story, isn’t it?

Whatever the actual story or cause, Valentine’s Day has been around for centuries.  A High Court of Love was established in Paris in AD 1400, on Valentine’s Day, which dealt with love contracts, betrayals, and violence against women.  Valentine’s Day is referred to in Hamlet, written about by John Donne, and the earliest surviving valentine was written by a Duke imprisoned in the Tower of London following the Battle of Agincourt in AD 1415.  The traditional poem “Roses are red” can be traced back to Edmund Spencer’s “The Faerie Queene” (AD 1590) though the classic verse itself was not written until 1784, where it is found in a collection of English nursery rhymes.

The rose is red, the violet's blue
The honey's sweet, and so are you
Thou are my love and I am thine
I drew thee to my Valentine
The lot was cast and then I drew
And Fortune said it shou'd be you.

And here’s a numbers breakdown for you, for the more modern Valentine’s Day.   220,000 proposals occurred on Valentine’s Day in 2012 – 10% of the annual total.  65% of all gifts on Valentine’s Day come in the form of a greeting card.  72 million cards were purchased by parents last year, presumably to give to their children.  8 billion conversation hearts are manufactured each year and 15% of women will send flowers to themselves for the holiday.  And last, but not least, Americans spent $367 million dollars on their pets for Valentine’s Day.  I wonder if Fido appreciated that?

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Don’t eat too much chocolate.

PAFL Update:  Pipestone Area Friends of the Library is looking for members – anyone who is a friend to Meinders Library is welcome to join!  The Friends group works hard to promote the library, raise money for projects, and organize their yearly book sale, in addition to the HUGE amount of support they provide throughout the year.  Give us a call to find out the date of the next meeting!

Book Club Reminder: The book club meets the last Thursday of the month, though they do not meet in December.  Their next meeting will be February 28^th at 7:00 in the Meinders Library conference room.  Please don’t hesitate to call the library for a copy of the next book, Defending Jacob by William Landay.

Winter Weather:  If the school closes early, Meinders Library will close a half hour later to allow time for all students to be picked up.  If the school is closed, usually the library is closed as well, though this is not always the case.  Call us if you are wondering.  If a travel advisory is issued by the Department of Transportation, the library will be closed.  All closing announcements are made over KLOH 1050.

If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714.  The hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10 AM – 8 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 10 AM – 5 PM.  Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 7^th Street SW, on the south side of the high school.