Volume 10 - Issue 1, February 15, 2008 - Lake Chapala Review

Page 26 Lake Chapala Review
February 2008
Happy Saint Valentine’s Day
by Jean Barnett Say it with Herbs
Saint Valentine’s Day may sound old-fashioned to
some but, next to Christmas, it is the most popular day of
the year to send greetings to special friends. An updated
report by the US Greeting Card Association estimates
that approximately one billion Valentines are sent out
worldwide each year, women being approximately 85% of
the purchasers.
The 14 th of February or Valentine’s Day is
traditionally a day on which lovers express their affection
for each other by sending flowers and sentimental
greetings. The day was set apart in honor of at least two
early Christian martyrs of the same name, St. Valentine,
a priest in Rome who suffered martyrdom about 269
A.D., and St. Valentine who became Bishop of Interamma
(modern Terni). The latter is said to have been killed
during the persecution under the emperor Aurelian.
Strange as it may seem, the biographies of these men do
not record any romantic elements. Nevertheless, the day
became associated with love in the Middle Ages when
courtly love flourished.
One of the earliest love poems, Chaucer’s
The Parliament of Fowls (1382), was in honor of the
first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of
England to Anne of Bohemia. They were married eight
months later when Richard became 13 and Anne 14.
Valentine’s Day has different traditions in different
countries. In Norfolk, UK, a character called “Jack
Valentine” knocks on the rear doors of houses leaving
sweets and presents for the children. Although not widely
celebrated In Denmark and Norway, folks there take time
out to have a romantic dinner with their spouse or lover.
In Sweden it is called “All Hearts Day” and people send
flowers and cosmetics to lovers and friends. In Slovenia
a proverb says that on February 14 th plants and flowers
begin to grow. Even the Chinese have a counterpart to
our Valentine’s Day called the “Night of Sevens,” when,
so the legend goes, the cowherd and the weaver maid
meet in Heaven on the seventh day of the seventh month
of the lunar calendar.
On this traditional day for lovers let us turn to the
important role many of our common herbs have played
in the romantic life of human beings in love potions,
poetry, legend, and folklore. Herbs have a colorful
history dating back to early Greek and Roman times and
mediaeval England. An old Spanish proverb praises the
Rosemarie, the best loved of all spices: