LAURA LAPHAM, Staff Writer—It is the gripe of many today about the commercialization of Valentine’s day with greeting cards lining the shelves ofstores as well as red and pink plastered everywhere by companies in order to profit off of a tradition. However, this sentiment is not something unique to the 21st century, and the fear of commercialization is something that was reflected back as the holiday began to take strong roots in the United States during the 19th century.
Firstly, Valentine’s Day celebrations have a quiet history where the celebration was not fully established until the 15th century, and little documentation before that. The first literary reference to Valentine’s Day comes from Geoffrey Chaucer in his poem, “Parlement of Foules,” written in the 14th century about the day the birds decide to find their mate. This poem never specified which Valentine’s Day that was being written about, and there are a multitude of different saints named Valentine with different saint’s days in the spring. This has led to some debate on what day was the poem referring to, whether it be the February 14th we know or not. The day would later become popular in 1820s London, England, when the mail service was forced to hire around 100 new employees to help sort the influx of Valentines.
There was some celebration of Valentine’s Day in America in the mid-19th century before commercialization where hand-made Valentines were exchanged. However, by the 1840s, commercial Valentines imported from England began to dominate the market.
The commercialization of Valentine’s day caused quite a stir to many 19th century Americans who feared the traditions of the day were being damaged by industry involvemen; therefore, there was a push for the legitimization of the holiday through the embellishment of its history.
Many writers wrote about the importance of the Martyr Saint of Rome, St. Valentine and his connection to the holiday. Some writers also focused on a traditional Roman holiday about finding mates that were “unsuccessfully” smothered by Roman Catholic influence as an explanation of the roots of Valentine’s day.
Ironically, one method that helped cement Valentine’s Day in the minds of Americans was the printing of these stories on the history of Valentine’s Day in newspapers every year, further cementing the holiday’s popularity and creating a market for commercial Valentine’s Day cards.
By the mid-19th century, Valentines Day had taken root in the American mind, and the fear of commercialization with it. Now as Valentine’s Day rounds the corner again, it is time to reflect on who you love in your life and the people who are important to you, whether that be with commercial Valentines feared by the 19th century Americans or the traditional hand-made ones. Thank you to the work of Elizabeth M. Jones on her research on Valentines Day for this article.