Valentine Traditions

In England, hundreds of years ago, children dressed up as adults on Valentine's Day. They went from door to door singing. One verse went like that:

In Wales, they carved "Wooden Love Spoons" and were given as gifts on Valentine's Day. Special decoration like hearts, keys and keyholes were carved on the spoons. The decoration translated means "Unlock my Heart".

In the Middle Ages, young men drew names of young girls from a jar and they would be a couple during Valentine's. They also would wear the names on their sleeves for a week so that others knew how you are feeling.

Today, a love seat is smaller couch. Originally it was made to seat a woman and her wide dress. Later, the love seat or courting seat, as it was named, had two sections, and often it was S-shaped. That way a couple could sit together - but not to closely.

In some other countries, a woman would receive gifts, such as clothing, from a young man. If she kept the gift, it means that she intend to marry him.

Other times, some people would believe that if a woman saw a Robin flying overhead an Valentine's Day, she would marry a sailor. Or, if she saw a Sparrow, she would marry a poor person and would be very happy, but if she saw a goldfish, (I guess there were not too many around at that time), she would marry a millionaire.

Another believe is, if you cut an apple in half and count all the seeds inside, you will know how many children you will have.

Another apple believe is, that if you think of five or six names of boys or girls you might want to marry while you twist the stem of an apple, and recite the names until the stem comes off, you will marry the person whose name you were saying when the stem came off.

If you pick a Dandelion that has seeds, and blow the seeds into the wind, you count the remaining seeds and that is the number of children you will have.

In North America as well as Europe, many people give candy or chocolates to their sweethearts on Valentine's Day.  Candy is sweet and so are sweethearts. The candy/chocolates are sold in fancy boxes, shaped like a heart, and decorated with flowers and ribbons.