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Library Leisure: St. Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! (February 14, 2024)

Modern St. Valentine's Day is an annual celebration occurring on February 14th.  As a general celebration of love, activities can range from school children exchanging small paper cards with affectionate messages and candy, to adults participating in romantic dates, gift giving in the form of flowers, candy, jewelry and other small tokens, and loving declarations and affirmations of all kinds.  Many participate in alternate celebrations for friendship and familial love rather than romantic love, such as "Galentine's Day", friendship dances, random acts of kindness, etc.  Valentine's day is often criticized for being overtly commercialized and exercising unnecessary societal pressure on one's romantic life, so there is growing effort to celebrate compassionate, unconditional, and humanitarian love.

History & Information

For more information about the history, origins and cultural influence of St. Valentine's Day, check out these resources and more!

General Information - Wikipedia

General Information - Britannica.com

Saint Valentine (origins) - Wikipedia

 

Article -  Hallowe'en and Valentine: The Culture of Saints' Days in the English Speaking World

Recipes and Valentine's Crafts

University of Regina Archives & Special Collections

Valentine’s Day 2021 – Victorian Greeting Cards (2011-39)

For Valentine’s Day the U of R Archives would like to share a sample of our Victorian greeting card collection in the style of paper lace. Paper lace in Victorian times was created through processes of perforating, cutting out, and embossing paper to imitate embroidery or lace. Other scraps or bits of silk were also incorporated into the cards as further adornment and may also include embossed chromolithographed prints fixed to the front of the cards. Some cards also had, at one time, a perfumed sachet within or may have once been mounted in a decorated box.

Image credit: U of R Archives 2011-39 Box 1 File 6 Victorian Greeting Cards

Reading Romance Classics

Movie Night!