VALENTINES DAY: lore and legend behind Valentines

Lupercus - slayer of wolves

VALENTINES Day is thought to have evolved from a spring holiday celebrated in ancient Rome. The feast of Lupercalia was actually celebrated on February 15 and honoured the god Lupercus, who protected the people and their herds from wolves.

On this day, dances were held for single young men and women. A man would draw his partner’s name from a piece of papyrus placed in a bowl. The man not only danced with his partner but was also obligated to protect her throughout the New Year, which began in March.

In many cases the partners became sweethearts and were soon married. When the tradition of these dances was later revived in the Middle Ages, a man would wear his sweetheart’s name on his sleeve. Even today we refer to someone who is quick to show their feeling as "wearing his heart on his sleeve."

Why it is called Valentines Day

Valentines Day most likely received its name and date from Valentinus, a Roman priest who was beheaded on February 14 in the third century A.D. At that time, Emperor Claudius II banned all weddings and engagements. He believed that newly married men made poor Roman soldiers. Valentinus defied the emperor by performing secret marriages and has since been regarded as "the patron saint of lovers".

When Valentinus was imprisoned for refusing to worship pagan gods, children made bouquets, tied on love notes, and tossed them through the prison bars. Valentine then prayed for a miracle, hoping that God would restore the sight of the jailer’s blind daughter.

The Emperor Claudius became enraged when the miracle occurred and both the jailer and his daughter converted to Christianity. Condemned to die, the priest sent the young girl a farewell message signed simply, “from your Valentine.”

Valentines Day messages

Over time, love notes sent to sweethearts on February 14 became known as valentines - as did those who sent them. Paper valentines differed from those of today in that most were printed without messages. This left the 18th-century lover to pen his own sentiment. Paper valentines became popular in the 18thC.

Before commercial printers created the colorful heirlooms we now have from Victorian times, people created their own valentines from paper scraps. In the 19th-century a lady would trace the outline of her hand, then add a paper heart in the center as a symbol of her affection for the recipient.

Valentines Day gifts

Many girls of the same period made watch papers for their sweethearts. Cut from pretty paper, silk or satin, these small circles replaced the ordinary papers that kept the dust out of pocket watches. The circles were painted or embroidered with hearts, the lovers’ initials, or a special motto, and quickly became popular Valentines Day gifts.

Through the years it has been said that a girl could dream of her future husband on St. Valentines Eve by sleeping with four bay leaves pinned to the corners of her pillow. Sleeping with any of the following under your pillow could bring dreams of one’s true love:

• A silver spoon
• A small ladder made of sticks
• A love-knot fashioned from wood shavings
• Three pebbles gathered from a place newly visited, or
• A bit of wedding cake that had been passed through a gold ring three times.

A woman should count the first nine stars she sees during nine consecutive nights. The first eligible man she sees the next day would supposedly become her husband - if she so desires. Legend holds that a young girl could see the face of her future husband by peering at the moon on St. Valentines Eve. For a time many believed this face was “the man in the moon.”

Happy Valentines Day :-)

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SANTA: The story of St Nic, his red suit, his reindeer and little helpers

SO just who is that fat old jolly guy in the red suit that parades around shopping malls at Christmas time - entertaining kids and scaring adults with his “ho ho hos”? It’s usually someone’s dad – the one (in any community of close friends) with the biggest beer boep.

I caught on early that Santa was my dad and that the whole thing was a scam. The biggest tip-off was the request for brandy or schnapps to left by the tree at night rather than the more traditional milk and cookies. This was suspect, as the order was giving by my mother and my father enjoys his schnapps and brandy and never drinks milk.

Santa Claus: Poetic beginnings

Much of the present form of the Santa story is undoubtedly due to the works of Clement Clark Moore and the cartoons of 19th century American cartoonist Thomas Nast. In 1822, Dr. Moore from New York wrote a Christmas poem titled A visit from St. Nicholas (also know as The Night Before Christmas) to read out to his children on Christmas Eve. Here's a little extract:

Santa enjoying a bit of pipeweed

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

Santa Claus: The story behind the red and white suit

Images of Santa Claus were further popularised through Haddon Sundblom's depiction of him for The Coca-Cola Company's Christmas advertising in the 1930s. The popularity of the image spawned urban legends that Santa Claus was in fact invented by Coca-Cola; or that Santa wears red and white because they are the Coca-Cola colors.

In reality, Coca-Cola was not the first soft drink company to utilize the modern image of Santa Claus in its advertising. White Rock Beverages used Santa to sell mineral water in 1915, then in advertisements for its ginger ale in 1923.

Furthermore, the massive campaign by Coca-Cola simply popularised the depiction of Santa Claus as wearing red and white. This is in contrast to the variety of colours he wore prior to that campaign (a popular garment being a green cloak). The colours red and white were originally given by Nast.

A brief history of St Nicholas

Father Christmas, who also goes under the alias of St Nicholas and Kris Kringle, has a bit of a sketchy history – predominantly attributed to legend and folklore. There is also a darker historical account that attributes some of the qualities and roles of St Nic to the pagan deities of Artemis and Poseidon.

The most plausible story of Saint Nicholas as an actual human figure dates back to 4th century Myra – a southwest port of modern day Turkey. The legend goes that Nicholas was a bishop that took pity on a poverty-stricken family with three daughters, who faced the threat of being forced into prostitution because they had no wedding dowries.

To save the girls from this fate, St. Nic tosses two bags of gold through an open window of their house at night. He threw a third one down the family’s chimney (which apparently landed in a stocking that had being hung near the fireplace to dry).

This is considered as the basis of the belief of Saint Nicholas as a loving gift-giver. It is believed to be the beginning of the tradition of hanging stocking near the fireplace at Christmas.

Santa’s little helpers

You can imagine the amount of slave-labour required to make millions of toys each year for all the good little boys and girls. Santa traditionally makes efficient use of child-labour in the form of little elves – popularised by fictional texts such as “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien.

However, up until the Second World War, it was believed that Santa Claus was only helped by one servant. One relatively modern story is that Saint Nicholas liberated an Ethiopian slave boy called 'Piter' (from Saint Peter) from a Myra market, who was so gracious he decided to stay with Santa as a helper.

At the end of the war, when the Canadians liberated the Netherlands in 1945, they reinstated the celebrations of Sinterklaas for the children. Unaware of the traditions, the Canadians thought that if one Zwarte Piet was fun, several Zwarte Pieten would be even more fun. Ever since, Santa Claus is helped by a group of Zwarte Pieten (i.e. little black Ethiopian slave boys).

Yet with the influx of immigrants to the Netherlands starting in the late 1950s, this story is felt by some to be racist. Today, Zwarte Piet have become modern servants, who have black faces because they climb through chimneys, causing their skin to become blackened by soot.

Santa’s reindeer

The commonly cited names of Santa’s reindeer are also based on those used in Nast’s 1823 poem. It is arguably the basis of reindeer's popularity as Christmas symbols. However, Santa Claus did have a favourite – his red-nosed ‘draw-horse’ Rudolph – who quickly became popularised by the mass media.

According to legend, Rudolph was the son of Donder and was born with a glowing red nose. This made him a bit of a social outcast among the other reindeer. However, one Christmas Eve it was too foggy for Santa to swing a cat, or to make his flight around the world and deliver presents to the masses.

About to cancel Christmas, Santa Claus suddenly noticed Rudolph's nose and decided it could be used as a makeshift lamp to guide his sleigh. Since then, Rudolph is said to be a permanent member of Santa's staff, who leads them on their journey and gets extra special attention at Christmas!

• For more information on the history and origin and Santa Claus, his reindeer, his helpers, his legend etc., here is a fantastic online resource.

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