What’s your favourite and/or least favourite Valentine’s Day practice? Let me know below and remember that you can also find me at: BUY MY BOOK (Find Your Irish Ancestors Online): amzn.to/3Z2ChnG Website (with 2 FREE DOWNLOADS): www.historycallingofficial.com/ Patreon: www.patreon.com/historycalling Amazon storefront: www.amazon.com/shop/historycalling Instagram: instagram.com/historycalling/
Favorite: giving friends and coworkers and family little fun cards Least favorite: most chocolate is only possible through modern slavery with very few exceptions so the huge chocolate push continuously exacerbates the problem 😞
I am married to a saint, my husband who actually did save my life. After a surgery I had on my knee, I had a lung embolism, it said to my husband my side hurts and he took one look at me put me in the car 🚗 and rushed to the hospital 🏥. I asked the nurse after they had pumped me full of heparin, do you think 🤔 I would have lived if my husband would have called 911 and she said no. I worked in hospitals as a CNA and saw a man die from a lung Embolism. We didn't even have the time to call for a CODE Blue. Therefore I see my husband as my own personal saint. We got married young I was 20 and he 22 that was 38 years ago ❤. So for me everyday is valentines 💝 💖 day.
@@Wee_Catalyst You bring light to the darker side of chocolate thank you. It is so incredibly sad to think that in this day and age slavery is still 😢 going on, humans are among the cruelist of mammals on earth. For what we do to our fellow humans and all creatures on earth.
Good point. I think the fashion industry gets a lot of attention for its unethical practices, but other industries are terrible too and should be called out as well.
I do this at Easter - am Greek Orthodox, so we (usually) celebrate later than the Catholic/protestant church, so I wait to buy all of my easter stuff until afterwards. Saves a ton of money.
My favourite thing about Valentine’s Day is that my late father used to buy or send a single red rose to all the women in his life: my aunts, my grandmother, his aunts and cousins (big French family), as well as a bouquet of gladiolus for my mother (her favourite flowers) and white peonies or tulips for me 🤗🥰 He was THAT kind of man.
Aww how sweet my daddy would send flowers to both of my grandma's & take my mom & me to a nice restaurant in Laredo, Texas along with getting us flowers & candy. I was an only child for 16 years but I am still the princess since I am his only daughter I have 2 little brothers Xavier he is 16 years younger & Sixto-Juan he is 20 years younger. I am the only granddaughter on my daddy's side🦋💚🥰🙏🌻*;0)
I don't do Valentines Day. I tell my wife I love her every day, get her flowers each week and give her small gifts regularly and tell her that I appreciate her. The only week she doesn't get flowers and we don't go out for dinner is the week of Valentines day. The prices of flowers go up and we prefer dining out when it's less busy. It's something that I learnt from my father.
❤️ Sounds like Valentines Day should be a day to help children. Can you imagine if all the money spent on flowers and gifts were given as donations to St. Jude to actually help heal children. I think we need to change the tradition. Even the single people would feel included and could give a gift of money to help children on the annual holiday. ❤
Hey Christina 🌹, Nice saying. I love your comment 💕 it shows how much you love sending helpful hands to the less privileged one's. Just like I myself, I love visiting the orphanage home any state I found myself. How're you feeling today 💗
The story I've been told, in my English classes (I'm Brazilian) is that he was an Irish priest, who married catholics in England, when catholic marriage celebrations were illegal
I do believe this is the first time I've heard the word "fun" used in reference to Bloody Mary! I suppose everyone has their lighter side. Great video. Thank you😊
Here in Portugal, we have Santo António (Saint Anthony), Patron Saint of couples. Girls, especially, would pray to him for love, and had certain figures of him, and, if he did not deliver, they would ground the figure! At least that’s what I’ve been told when I went to the museum of said figures :)
My fav tradition is wearing clothes and accessories associated with the holiday, like all the others, especially at work. You gotta have fun with it! It’s outside of the norm of the everyday routine and holidays allow this. I don’t think I have a least favorite practice.
You know we need your ranking of Tudor monarchs now right? You cannot only place one on the list and leave it at that. Love your content please keep up the amazing work. I especially love how you will give what a source says and then tell us how reliable it is (first example of this is referring to the Spanish chronicles description of Anne Boleyns execution). Thank you again
One of my other followers has asked me that in the past actually and I think I gave a ranking somewhere in the comments. Elizabeth is my top pick, I'll tell you that much. You can guess how the others slot in :-)
Thanks for the thorough history. If I have a favorite tradition around Valentine's Day, it is a lingering dinner at a special restaurant. We don't always go out on Valentine's Day evening, though. My second favorite would have to be sharing a dinner of wine, fruit, crackers, and fancy cheeses with my husband.
I'm always interested in your videos. Thank you! Until about 25 years ago, Valentine's Day was out of the picture in the Netherlands. When I was young I never heard or read or saw about it. Here it is really just a commercial thing and of no value whatsoever. And as far as I'm concerned, we'll keep it that way 😅
How interesting. I thought it was global and had been for a long time, but you've taught me something new today. Your comment reminds me of Halloween in the UK - it's become a lot more popular and commercialised during the past 25 years as well.
@@HistoryCalling It might have been known in certain circles. I was raised Catholic, with saints on the calendar. In the sixties I was a young girl, living near Amsterdam, who would definitely know about this. Halloween has also only recently arrived in our country and it hardly exists, except for a few pumpkins 🤭 They have even tried "trick or treating". No success.
@@HistoryCalling Oh no, definitly not global - in Germany it wasn't known (and still isn't much of a practice although the flower shops try to change that, of course). It would be interesting to know which countries do have the valentine tradition (France, Italy?) - if none, that would support the idea that it was a genuine English invention.
Supermarkets: Halloween paraphernalia cleared away, straight away out come the Christmas decorations. Christmas cleared away and here in Australia, out come the flags and barbeque accoutrements for Australia Day on Jan 26th, colliding with all the Back to School lunchboxes, pencil cases and exercise books as the summer holidays come to a close. Valentine cards, chocolates and over-priced flowers make their appearance. Easter buns, as they're called here so they have secular appeal, have been on the shelves since January but now come to the fore and chocolate eggs start appearing soon after. You see where I am going with this. The relentless round of card buying, special food and banners everywhere in people's faces. The Christmas decorations start creeping in in September now, even before Halloween completely takes over with pumpkins, skeletons and cobweb everywhere you look. It's utter madness and it has replaced the annual celebration of religious festivals and working through the church year per the Book of Common Prayer, with which I am not overly familiar by the way, but purely wish to make the observation of the conversion from God to Mammon to suit commercial and dare I say, satanic purposes. You can't have missed the Superbowl or CERN or various World Games ceremonies. 👿
If a woman is true to me and keeps us both in a positive mood , every day can be her special own type of valentines day. It doesn't have to be just one day out of the year!
Yes, if I thought it would do well it would be worth a video in its own right, but people don't tend to respond to my ancient history offerings unfortunately.
Slightly off topic but I was a child of the 1950s/60s. Does anyone remember the Love Hearts sweets? Came in a tube and each sweet had a love message on it surrounded by a heart. All different pastel colours ans they fizzed in your mouth, a bit like Refreshers (remember those?) I dont know if theyre still available now over there as I live in Australia now.
Hiya 😊, yes! And you can still get them in the UK, also lve got them in Queensland/SA/NSW from shops that sell imported sweets from Europe. (Also polo mints and Rowntrees fruit gums/pastilles. ) Happy hunting!J.I.M.K Mrs. Brisbane, Australia 🇦🇺 ♥ 😊
Thank you so much for choosing this topic and for doing such an elegant job of researching it! I read Charles d'Orleans in graduate school, and thoroughly enjoyed his Valentine's Day poems in French. I wish I still had my collection of his poetry, most of which he composed while exiled in England after being captured at Agincourt. His mother's name, by the way, was Valentina Visconti (1371-1408). I don't know what her name might have to do with the poet/duke embracing the Valentine's Day tradition. Judging from her birthdate, it doesn't seem as if Chaucer's Parlement of Foules could have had anything to do with her receiving that name. Interesting coincidence? But the 15th century French Valentine's Day poems are really lovely.
9:45 😂. I just have to say that peacock calls are probably the most obnoxious bird calls that I have ever heard. The peahens are not much better. I describe it as a Canada goose with an accent. They honk, a peahen he honks. Don't get me wrong, they are beautiful birds who deserve to procreate. I just happened to have heard the calls in a canyon for the first time. The reverb 😂
I agree! It was such fun to think of HC standing there waiting for him to turn around and show his tail to full advantage for the sake of all of us loyal readers.
I think a common myth about Mary I is that she was a dud with no sense of fun- major depression aside, she had quite a humour at times, and, as the stories I believe you will tell go to show, indulged in some fun at times!
@@HistoryCalling Yes :( though (and I know you’ll disagree with me here, please don’t hate me though hehe) I don’t think her religious policies were that different to those of her sister- For Elizabeth, it was, in her early reign, a “don’t ask don’t tell” policy, and those executed by Mary were quite vocal in their criticism of Catholicism. The method of burning was undoubtedly worse than h*nging, but when it came to who was executed, I don’t think they were that different. People were punished for not publicly conforming in both cases. Now, all this is wrong, obviously, I think centuries of religious persecution tell us that tolerance is the way to go (hope we can all agree on that…), but yea that’s just my two cents on the sisters’ religious policies:)
I agree that Elizabeth was no saint either (no pun intended), but I don't think she killed as many (adjusted for her much longer reign of course) as Mary did. We can indeed agree to disagree though :-)
Imbolc (Feb 2nd) aka Ground Hog's Day falls at the middle point between Winter & Spring. Where I live, the flowers definitely bloom by then. Our front yard has sprouted lovely yellow dafodills (although they look a little sad due to the heavy rainstorms we just had) The only remotely Roman thing I associate with Valentine's Day is Cupid :)
Santes Dwynwen - Welsh version from January 25th also plays a role - The Welsh love spoons being symbolic of the Myths/legends that celebrate her. Thats an interesting story to research ❤
Without watching this first I will repeat what I've read. Here it goes, St. Valentine was a Saint from the Roman era. He was a priest in Rome that married Roman soldiers to Roman women so so they wouldn't live or cohabitate in sin. It was against the law for Roman soldiers to marry, as they were away from their country too long, and had to fight, and having a family interfered with their military obligations. He was locked up and executed as he wouldn't stop performing Christian clandestine marriages to R. soldiers.
I love the idea of drawing your valentine from a random mix of names ❤ and beating down the heteronormativity, you could just put names of all genders together!
Valentine's Day definitely has macabre origins to it that most people do not know about. I myself have definitely heard of the historical figure St Valentine who lived from c226-270 A.D. Al Capone certainly added to that macabre origin 95 years ago in Chicago with what he was associated with doing. Yet he wasn't proven or convicted in orchestrating the St Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929 in the killing of 7 notorious gang members.
It is a tough gig being a saint. They end up dying for their faith and in this case, we're not even sure which one is the real Valentine, or where he is. His reason for being a saint is also not crystal clear either. At least Geoffrey Chaucer seems to have given him some sort of kudos and purpose. I don't observe St Valentine's day as it is so commercialised (and a bit wet) but if others want to enjoy it then fine. As for picking flowers, not much to go on. Snowdrops, crocus, hellebores and winter jasmine, daffs if you are lucky. You will get roses, gladis etc in the southern hemisphere. 💘🌹🍫
I enjoyed learning about the classical traditions of the Romans, who merged ancient Etruscan rites with classical Greek Gods, to form the purging and fertility rites of the Roman cult of Lupercalia, barely mentioned . Men (probably very drunk) danced naked in the streets, wearing only thongs cut from the skins of sacrificed goats, to whiplash woman, who volunteered themselves for 'cleansing, if they wanted to get pregnant.!! This ceremony is still practiced,, as an Observance to the Pagan Festivals, by people today. The Christians eventually adopted Feb 15 as the Day of the Purification of the Virgin Mary and Feb 14 as St Valentine's Day., a priest that was beheaded by Romans for conducting illegal Christian Weddings, perhaps in the mid 3rd century AD, but unproven.
Really glad you set the record straight-this was something I haven’t really looked into and was under the common misperceptions Thanks again for such a well-documented look!
Valentine's day is a special day for my husband & I it's the day before we got married so yesterday we celebrated our 32nd anniversary. On Valentine's day we were busy decorating the American Legion hall for our reception🦋💚🥰🙏🌻*;0)
I'm reminded of a book I read years ago in which the characters talk of Hock Monday. The setting for the book is about 1370. They don't explain exactly what Hock Monday is, but one of the characters complains that there aren't enough unmarried females in the village to pursue (possibly due to the plague) for the unmarried men to pair up with. Another scene has young girls demanding a "groat" for the single man to pass by them, while they blocked his progress until he paid. Prior to your video I knew next to nothing of St. Valentine, nor how far back the tradition associated with his feast day went. But the tradition does seem to be similar to that of Hock Monday, at least in the description of it that I read on Merriam Webster. I wonder if the two holidays were combined (by the Church, no doubt) at some point for reasons that are no longer clear, and all memory of the original holiday (Hock Monday) lost? Thanks for your thorough research on Valentine's Day, another great and informative video!
I had no idea that these traditions went so far back. I assumed that they were maybe 100 years old. I mean I knew that the mention of the day went back and had some romantic things assocoated with it and that St Valentine was martyred but I didn't know where the romance crept in or that there were two of him or that Chaucer had a hand in it all. Absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much.
💚 thank you I love history and I love your presentation end the construction the entire presentation of the subject matter is very entertaining thank you
I enjoyed exchanging Valentine's cards with classmates in grade school. Had to give and receive a card from everyone in the class.... not sure what the point was❤❤
I suppose the teacher just didn't want anyone to feel left out and it provided an activity for the whole class that probably took a couple of days by the sound of it, so no class planning or marking :-)
hello Hc! it has been a crazy week here so i’m a bit late. excellent video nonetheless. i’ll never look at Valentine’s day the same way again! 😮 fascinating to think of Queen Mary having Valentines
There is an Australian novel called Picnic at Hanging Rock, by Joan Lindsay, which is set on Valentine's Day 1900 where a group of schoolgirls go on a picnic to Hanging Rock and 4 girls and 1 teacher disappear without a trace. 1 girl is later found 4 days later with amnesia.
Entertaining and illuminating, HC! I guess in terms of gory history, Yanks like myself will always have the St. Valentine's Day massacre. On the plus side, some historians consider it the beginning of Al Capone's downfall. I'll avoid bringing up many of your historical points when I give Lena her Valentine's Day present. 😉
I don't have any Valentine's Day practices, favorite or otherwise having never had anything to do with it in all my 71 years. However, I really enjoyed the video.
I honestly never knew valentines day went so far back. It's been very interesting to learn the history. Have you considered doing a video on Robin Hood?
Brilliant deep dive into the true origins of this ridiculous "holiday". I am so sick of being labelled "a cynical, cold hearted, unromantic hag" because I prefer to believe historical records about so called "saints" rather than the fantasies dreamed up by greeting card companies and chocolate manufacturers that perpetuate the dangerous belief that if you do not have someone in your life willing to shower you with gifts on a specific day of the year, you are incomplete. Rant over! 😜 Thank you for posting.
Hello from Canada :) Please any information on the art work shown at 20:19 My favourite traditions - celebrating/showing my love for friends, family/children, and husband with love notes and special desert.
I only subbed this week ... looks like theres some interesting materials(History Calling videos) for me enjoy 😊 I will be looking out for Santa - When I've looked a little more at the Plantagenets (my mum says we're descendants - I'm trying to be convinced 😂 )
On Valentine’s Day it was fun in my teens when I always received a card to brag about at school, later to find one was from an uncle! Wonderful for declaring love between couples or shy would ‘bees’ … but that leaves the rest of us, hopeful wives, single people … feeling unloved and rejected. 😭 It’s a romantic idea but just another commercial opportunity for card shops and florists with little historic evidence?
When I met my spouse he 'didn't participate' in Valentine's Day because he claimed it was a made-up holiday by the likes of Hallmark and others. It didn't take me long to figure out he was correct. I get a kick out of all the folks around me running around and panicking to get reservations and gifts at the last minute. People make such a big deal out of it and I find it funny.
Today's Valentine's Day is an invention of Hallmark, Hershey's, and Zales! The Catholic Church, however, cornered the market on lies based on Valentine, Saint or not.
I’ve been to Whitefriars in Dublin many times! It’s a very pretty little church right off Grafton Street, so worth ducking into, though the relics are only on display occasionally.
There's very little in the way of flowers in England in February. I suppose you might get some snowdrops in a sheltered spot in milder areas, or the odd crocus. But not those hedgerow flowers shown....cornflowers and poppies are definitely summer flowers. Some birds do start pairing up, but no self-respecting bee would be out so early. In principle, there's nothing wrong with having a day about love and lovers - a bit of fun. What I don't like is the utter, rampant commercialisation of it. I quite like the lottery idea, as no one is left out. I dislike this notion of "being alone on Valentine's Day" and all associated shaming. The "first person you see" idea is a bit like "first footing" at New Year. I liked the "you have no idea how long I waited for the peacock to turn around" bit. 😆
Yeah, not many flowers here in NI either. The hedgerow flowers were indeed filmed during summer. Weirdly I did see a bee about 10 days ago, but I thought it was bizarre and surely a sign of global warming's effects, as I agree that they shouldn't be out for months yet. Yes, there's a whole piece of extra footage of that peacock's rear end that I edited out because I had to wait so long for it to turn :-)
There were 3 sisters that were martyred in February & that is prob the best Valentine Day story ever: A wicked douche who had authority in the Roman Empire used to persecute Christians for entertainment & he especially liked to see them DENY CHRIST rather than lose their heads > well that really made the Roman lose his marbles bcuz instead of using her sisters against her
At around 7:10 you stated that Claudius I “reigned” from 10 BC to 54 AD. Did you mean “lived” or is this another use of the word 'reign' that this American rube isn’t familiar with?😉 It took me off guard for a moment, because on the authority of this little known and quite obscure book, titled 'The Bible', I was informed that it was Emperor Augustus, whose reign straddled the switchover from BC to AD.😉😆
Actually the Catholics and Anglicans celebrate the lives of brothers St Cyril and Methodius on the 14th February. Poor St Valentine, has been commercialized just like everything.
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What’s your favourite and/or least favourite Valentine’s Day practice? Let me know below and remember that you can also find me at:
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Favorite: giving friends and coworkers and family little fun cards
Least favorite: most chocolate is only possible through modern slavery with very few exceptions so the huge chocolate push continuously exacerbates the problem 😞
I am married to a saint, my husband who actually did save my life.
After a surgery I had on my knee, I had a lung embolism, it said to my husband my side hurts and he took one look at me put me in the car 🚗 and rushed to the hospital 🏥.
I asked the nurse after they had pumped me full of heparin, do you think 🤔 I would have lived if my husband would have called 911 and she said no.
I worked in hospitals as a CNA and saw a man die from a lung Embolism.
We didn't even have the time to call for a CODE Blue.
Therefore I see my husband as my own personal saint.
We got married young I was 20 and he 22 that was 38 years ago ❤.
So for me everyday is valentines 💝 💖 day.
@@Wee_Catalyst
You bring light to the darker side of chocolate thank you.
It is so incredibly sad to think that in this day and age slavery is still 😢 going on, humans are among the cruelist of mammals on earth.
For what we do to our fellow humans and all creatures on earth.
Oh wow. That's an amazing story. What a great hubby :-)
Good point. I think the fashion industry gets a lot of attention for its unethical practices, but other industries are terrible too and should be called out as well.
My favorite Valentine tradition is the day after Valentine’s Day when the candy is half price and I can buy a lot of chocolate for myslef
That's a good one! :-)
I do this at Easter - am Greek Orthodox, so we (usually) celebrate later than the Catholic/protestant church, so I wait to buy all of my easter stuff until afterwards. Saves a ton of money.
😂
Love this haha
Exactly what I love too!
My favourite thing about Valentine’s Day is that my late father used to buy or send a single red rose to all the women in his life: my aunts, my grandmother, his aunts and cousins (big French family), as well as a bouquet of gladiolus for my mother (her favourite flowers) and white peonies or tulips for me 🤗🥰
He was THAT kind of man.
The generation before MGTOW
Aww how sweet my daddy would send flowers to both of my grandma's & take my mom & me to a nice restaurant in Laredo, Texas along with getting us flowers & candy. I was an only child for 16 years but I am still the princess since I am his only daughter I have 2 little brothers Xavier he is 16 years younger & Sixto-Juan he is 20 years younger. I am the only granddaughter on my daddy's side🦋💚🥰🙏🌻*;0)
That's a real gentleman!!! Sounds like a true legend! Thanks for sharing!❤
@@frankme9862Some men have given up hoping for love and kindness because some women are so self-righteous and harsh. Life is short. Let's be kind.
My dad bought me roses there still no 1-4 me get in February 14th Valentine’s Day you know what never mind
To be fair, any holiday linked to a catholic saint, most certainly holds a horrific torture and death story 😂
Loved your video! ❤
True story!!! Lmao!!😂 That's hilarious!
@@JenniferFitzgerald-i9p
Rather sad. Thank about it ...
Underrated comment 😂
I don't do Valentines Day. I tell my wife I love her every day, get her flowers each week and give her small gifts regularly and tell her that I appreciate her.
The only week she doesn't get flowers and we don't go out for dinner is the week of Valentines day. The prices of flowers go up and we prefer dining out when it's less busy.
It's something that I learnt from my father.
The drawing of names for one's Valentine sounds like the inspiration for the modern-day "Secret Santa." 😊
It does actually, doesn't it? I hadn't thought of that.
❤️ Sounds like Valentines Day should be a day to help children. Can you imagine if all the money spent on flowers and gifts were given as donations to St. Jude to actually help heal children. I think we need to change the tradition. Even the single people would feel included and could give a gift of money to help children on the annual holiday. ❤
Hey Christina 🌹, Nice saying. I love your comment 💕 it shows how much you love sending helpful hands to the less privileged one's. Just like I myself, I love visiting the orphanage home any state I found myself. How're you feeling today 💗
The story I've been told, in my English classes (I'm Brazilian) is that he was an Irish priest, who married catholics in England, when catholic marriage celebrations were illegal
I've never heard that he was Irish, but there are some bones supposed to be his in Dublin.
I was married on 2/14/1983,41 years this year!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Anniversary 🎉❤
2 birds one stone 😂
Congratulations to both of you on enjoying a long, loving relationship. Please keep deepening it and treasuring it.
Congrats!!
Al Capone thought that story needed an update. Love your content
I debated a video on the VD massacre actually, but didn't think it would be RUclips friendly.
@@HistoryCalling Long time fan of you and that wonderful accent
I do believe this is the first time I've heard the word "fun" used in reference to Bloody Mary!
I suppose everyone has their lighter side.
Great video. Thank you😊
Yes, even her. Probably Ivan the Terrible had a sense of humour of sorts as well :-)
Loving these Monday drop! Great way to start the week!
Thanks Heather :-)
Here in Portugal, we have Santo António (Saint Anthony), Patron Saint of couples. Girls, especially, would pray to him for love, and had certain figures of him, and, if he did not deliver, they would ground the figure! At least that’s what I’ve been told when I went to the museum of said figures :)
That's interesting. I'd never heard that story. Well, as the old saying goes, hell knows no fury like a woman scorned.
@@HistoryCalling lmao yes- not even Saints are free from our fury👹 (just to clarify I have never grounded a Saint)
Wow 😮
Hi friend !
@@DarthDread-oh2ne Hello! How are you?
My fav tradition is wearing clothes and accessories associated with the holiday, like all the others, especially at work. You gotta have fun with it! It’s outside of the norm of the everyday routine and holidays allow this. I don’t think I have a least favorite practice.
That sounds fun :-)
You know we need your ranking of Tudor monarchs now right? You cannot only place one on the list and leave it at that.
Love your content please keep up the amazing work. I especially love how you will give what a source says and then tell us how reliable it is (first example of this is referring to the Spanish chronicles description of Anne Boleyns execution). Thank you again
One of my other followers has asked me that in the past actually and I think I gave a ranking somewhere in the comments. Elizabeth is my top pick, I'll tell you that much. You can guess how the others slot in :-)
Is H8 at the bottom?@@HistoryCalling
I like the "I, Claudius" reference; I loved that series as a boy
Yes, an oldie but a goodie.
Thanks for the thorough history. If I have a favorite tradition around Valentine's Day, it is a lingering dinner at a special restaurant. We don't always go out on Valentine's Day evening, though. My second favorite would have to be sharing a dinner of wine, fruit, crackers, and fancy cheeses with my husband.
Aww, those traditions sound lovely :-)
I'm always interested in your videos. Thank you!
Until about 25 years ago, Valentine's Day was out of the picture in the Netherlands. When I was young I never heard or read or saw about it. Here it is really just a commercial thing and of no value whatsoever.
And as far as I'm concerned, we'll keep it that way 😅
How interesting. I thought it was global and had been for a long time, but you've taught me something new today. Your comment reminds me of Halloween in the UK - it's become a lot more popular and commercialised during the past 25 years as well.
@@HistoryCalling It might have been known in certain circles. I was raised Catholic, with saints on the calendar. In the sixties I was a young girl, living near Amsterdam, who would definitely know about this.
Halloween has also only recently arrived in our country and it hardly exists, except for a few pumpkins 🤭 They have even tried "trick or treating". No success.
It`s not global- here in Germany it is also a more recent import from the English speaking countries, just as Halloween. @@HistoryCalling
@@HistoryCalling Oh no, definitly not global - in Germany it wasn't known (and still isn't much of a practice although the flower shops try to change that, of course). It would be interesting to know which countries do have the valentine tradition (France, Italy?) - if none, that would support the idea that it was a genuine English invention.
Supermarkets: Halloween paraphernalia cleared away, straight away out come the Christmas decorations. Christmas cleared away and here in Australia, out come the flags and barbeque accoutrements for Australia Day on Jan 26th, colliding with all the Back to School lunchboxes, pencil cases and exercise books as the summer holidays come to a close. Valentine cards, chocolates and over-priced flowers make their appearance. Easter buns, as they're called here so they have secular appeal, have been on the shelves since January but now come to the fore and chocolate eggs start appearing soon after. You see where I am going with this. The relentless round of card buying, special food and banners everywhere in people's faces. The Christmas decorations start creeping in in September now, even before Halloween completely takes over with pumpkins, skeletons and cobweb everywhere you look.
It's utter madness and it has replaced the annual celebration of religious festivals and working through the church year per the Book of Common Prayer, with which I am not overly familiar by the way, but purely wish to make the observation of the conversion from God to Mammon to suit commercial and dare I say, satanic purposes. You can't have missed the Superbowl or CERN or various World Games ceremonies. 👿
If a woman is true to me and keeps us both in a positive mood , every day can be her special own type of valentines day. It doesn't have to be just one day out of the year!
Grown men are responsible for their OWN moods. Positive or otherwise. Hope she dumps you for a grown man. 😂😂
It is not a woman's job to keep you in a good mood or happy....only you are responsible for that.
I appreciate the daisy love at 0:45 because they need more love! They are my favorite flower!
I just wish there hadn't been so many bugs to dodge to get the footage :-)
I found out about Lupercalia a few years ago. It's pretty fascinating, it goes all the way back to Sumeria.
Yes, if I thought it would do well it would be worth a video in its own right, but people don't tend to respond to my ancient history offerings unfortunately.
I'd be interested in hearing more about this.
*Sumer
@@vanessamccarthy7807 Seconded.
Slightly off topic but I was a child of the 1950s/60s. Does anyone remember the Love Hearts sweets? Came in a tube and each sweet had a love message on it surrounded by a heart. All different pastel colours ans they fizzed in your mouth, a bit like Refreshers (remember those?) I dont know if theyre still available now over there as I live in Australia now.
Hiya 😊, yes! And you can still get them in the UK, also lve got them in Queensland/SA/NSW from shops that sell imported sweets from Europe. (Also polo mints and Rowntrees fruit gums/pastilles. ) Happy hunting!J.I.M.K Mrs. Brisbane, Australia 🇦🇺 ♥ 😊
Glad I was able to find this over the dozens of other poorly researched and uncited videos. Great info.
Thank you so much for choosing this topic and for doing such an elegant job of researching it! I read Charles d'Orleans in graduate school, and thoroughly enjoyed his Valentine's Day poems in French. I wish I still had my collection of his poetry, most of which he composed while exiled in England after being captured at Agincourt. His mother's name, by the way, was Valentina Visconti (1371-1408). I don't know what her name might have to do with the poet/duke embracing the Valentine's Day tradition. Judging from her birthdate, it doesn't seem as if Chaucer's Parlement of Foules could have had anything to do with her receiving that name. Interesting coincidence? But the 15th century French Valentine's Day poems are really lovely.
I must confess I've never read his work (other than what I looked at for this video), but I'll take your word for it that he's very good :-)
I’ve been binging your videos all week! And my birthday is after Valentine’s Day lol
Thank you and happy birthday in advance :-)
Happy Birthday, 2007 Volkswagon Jetta! 🥳🎂🎉🎊
@@crawfordroses 🥲thank you
9:45 😂. I just have to say that peacock calls are probably the most obnoxious bird calls that I have ever heard. The peahens are not much better. I describe it as a Canada goose with an accent. They honk, a peahen he honks. Don't get me wrong, they are beautiful birds who deserve to procreate. I just happened to have heard the calls in a canyon for the first time. The reverb 😂
Haha, yes it's true they don't make a very pretty sound.
LOL my husband does a peacock call to wake our children up. He's quite good at it!
Good evening to history calling from Bea
Hi Bea. A themed video for you this week, as St V.'s day is approaching :-)
Very interesting, as always. I love the peacock comment at 9:37!
I agree! It was such fun to think of HC standing there waiting for him to turn around and show his tail to full advantage for the sake of all of us loyal readers.
@@annmoore6678 Maybe he was taking part in the recent actor's strike.
😄@@SurferJoe1
Haha, thank you. It was a nightmare getting that bird to do what I wanted. Lots of waiting.
You know, I think I did film that during the strike actually. It was in August.
I think a common myth about Mary I is that she was a dud with no sense of fun- major depression aside, she had quite a humour at times, and, as the stories I believe you will tell go to show, indulged in some fun at times!
She did, yes. It's a great pity that life ground her down the way it did. With a better childhood and youth, I think she could have been so different.
@@HistoryCalling Yes :( though (and I know you’ll disagree with me here, please don’t hate me though hehe) I don’t think her religious policies were that different to those of her sister- For Elizabeth, it was, in her early reign, a “don’t ask don’t tell” policy, and those executed by Mary were quite vocal in their criticism of Catholicism. The method of burning was undoubtedly worse than h*nging, but when it came to who was executed, I don’t think they were that different. People were punished for not publicly conforming in both cases. Now, all this is wrong, obviously, I think centuries of religious persecution tell us that tolerance is the way to go (hope we can all agree on that…), but yea that’s just my two cents on the sisters’ religious policies:)
I agree that Elizabeth was no saint either (no pun intended), but I don't think she killed as many (adjusted for her much longer reign of course) as Mary did. We can indeed agree to disagree though :-)
@@HistoryCalling lmao the Saint talk in this video/comment section is wild! I, too, agree to disagree :)
Imbolc (Feb 2nd) aka Ground Hog's Day falls at the middle point between Winter & Spring. Where I live, the flowers definitely bloom by then. Our front yard has sprouted lovely yellow dafodills (although they look a little sad due to the heavy rainstorms we just had) The only remotely Roman thing I associate with Valentine's Day is Cupid :)
The narrators sweet feminine voice Is making me have special saint valentine's day feelings. 😍
I really like the Valentine by lottery idea. Sounds like a lot of fun!
Ah, all fun and games until you get matched up with someone you'd have swiped left on on Tinder :-)
@@HistoryCalling Oh god. I take it all back :D
Lottery, NOPE. 😳
😱 Sounds more like a nightmare to me.
Santes Dwynwen - Welsh version from January 25th also plays a role - The Welsh love spoons being symbolic of the Myths/legends that celebrate her. Thats an interesting story to research ❤
Ah, very interesting. I hadn't heard of Santes Dwynwen.
@@HistoryCallingCwtch - Welsh for Hug 🫂
Without watching this first I will repeat what I've read. Here it goes, St. Valentine was a Saint from the Roman era. He was a priest in Rome that married Roman soldiers to Roman women so so they wouldn't live or cohabitate in sin. It was against the law for Roman soldiers to marry, as they were away from their country too long, and had to fight, and having a family interfered with their military obligations. He was locked up and executed as he wouldn't stop performing Christian clandestine marriages to R. soldiers.
I love the idea of drawing your valentine from a random mix of names ❤ and beating down the heteronormativity, you could just put names of all genders together!
You could indeed :-)
Finally a more concise 'story' around Valentine and who he was - Thank you 🙂
Valentine's Day definitely has macabre origins to it that most people do not know about. I myself have definitely heard of the historical figure St Valentine who lived from c226-270 A.D. Al Capone certainly added to that macabre origin 95 years ago in Chicago with what he was associated with doing. Yet he wasn't proven or convicted in orchestrating the St Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929 in the killing of 7 notorious gang members.
Very interesting, and well done. Thank you.
p.s. And thank you again for such a lovely non Ai voice.
Great video! I tend to stay away from Valentine's Day since my Birthday is today February 5th. Much more interested in that. ❤🎉🎂🎁🐕🐕❤️
I know I'm a day late, but happy birthday :-)
Moi aussi, 2/5/50
It is a tough gig being a saint. They end up dying for their faith and in this case, we're not even sure which one is the real Valentine, or where he is. His reason for being a saint is also not crystal clear either. At least Geoffrey Chaucer seems to have given him some sort of kudos and purpose. I don't observe St Valentine's day as it is so commercialised (and a bit wet) but if others want to enjoy it then fine. As for picking flowers, not much to go on. Snowdrops, crocus, hellebores and winter jasmine, daffs if you are lucky. You will get roses, gladis etc in the southern hemisphere. 💘🌹🍫
I know. Their stories rarely have a happy ending. Not too many of them got to just pass away quietly in their beds at a ripe old age.
Just enjoyed my first Valentine’s Day alone in five years ♥️ new friends, new dream job & newfound happiness
I enjoyed learning about the classical traditions of the Romans, who merged ancient Etruscan rites with classical Greek Gods, to form the purging and fertility rites of the Roman cult of Lupercalia, barely mentioned . Men (probably very drunk) danced naked in the streets, wearing only thongs cut from the skins of sacrificed goats, to whiplash woman, who volunteered themselves for 'cleansing, if they wanted to get pregnant.!! This ceremony is still practiced,, as an Observance to the Pagan Festivals, by people today. The Christians eventually adopted Feb 15 as the Day of the Purification of the Virgin Mary and Feb 14 as St Valentine's Day., a priest that was beheaded by Romans for conducting illegal Christian Weddings, perhaps in the mid 3rd century AD, but unproven.
Really glad you set the record straight-this was something I haven’t really looked into and was under the common misperceptions
Thanks again for such a well-documented look!
Glad you enjoyed it. I'd never looked at it either and was rather surprised that the whole thing is built on such weak foundations.
i hug my cat on valentine's day. then i clean up my blood, because my cat doesn't like to be held.😿
Valentine's day is a special day for my husband & I it's the day before we got married so yesterday we celebrated our 32nd anniversary. On Valentine's day we were busy decorating the American Legion hall for our reception🦋💚🥰🙏🌻*;0)
I'm reminded of a book I read years ago in which the characters talk of Hock Monday. The setting for the book is about 1370. They don't explain exactly what Hock Monday is, but one of the characters complains that there aren't enough unmarried females in the village to pursue (possibly due to the plague) for the unmarried men to pair up with. Another scene has young girls demanding a "groat" for the single man to pass by them, while they blocked his progress until he paid.
Prior to your video I knew next to nothing of St. Valentine, nor how far back the tradition associated with his feast day went. But the tradition does seem to be similar to that of Hock Monday, at least in the description of it that I read on Merriam Webster. I wonder if the two holidays were combined (by the Church, no doubt) at some point for reasons that are no longer clear, and all memory of the original holiday (Hock Monday) lost? Thanks for your thorough research on Valentine's Day, another great and informative video!
That's so interesting. I'm not familiar with Hock Monday but I agree it does sound a bit Valentine-esque.
So glad your channel showed up in my feed! The peacock sealed the deal, and I subbed!
Great video really enjoyed it thx for sharing 😊
Oh HC, you history sharing heartbreaker 😂 💔
Sorry :-)
I love your more off the beaten track videos!
Me too, though they don't tend to do as well as the Tudors I must admit.
That's some great digging, well done ❤
Thank you kindly :-)
It's always been 'one week to my birthday' warning for friends and family ❤🎉
Splendid. Flower power. Thanks for the interesting education. Quite the metamorphosis.
I had no idea that these traditions went so far back. I assumed that they were maybe 100 years old. I mean I knew that the mention of the day went back and had some romantic things assocoated with it and that St Valentine was martyred but I didn't know where the romance crept in or that there were two of him or that Chaucer had a hand in it all. Absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much.
So ... the innocent Valentine's Day we had in childhood is apparently older than the 'romantic' one.
Anyway, the flowers are pretty!
💚 thank you I love history and I love your presentation end the construction the entire presentation of the subject matter is very entertaining thank you
Well done!! Especially love the peacock, you all definitely have more patience than I. 🤩
I enjoyed exchanging Valentine's cards with classmates in grade school. Had to give and receive a card from everyone in the class.... not sure what the point was❤❤
I suppose the teacher just didn't want anyone to feel left out and it provided an activity for the whole class that probably took a couple of days by the sound of it, so no class planning or marking :-)
I love your unique perspective on Valentine's Day!
hello Hc! it has been a crazy week here so i’m a bit late. excellent video nonetheless. i’ll never look at Valentine’s day the same way again! 😮 fascinating to think of Queen Mary having Valentines
There is an Australian novel called Picnic at Hanging Rock, by Joan Lindsay, which is set on Valentine's Day 1900 where a group of schoolgirls go on a picnic to Hanging Rock and 4 girls and 1 teacher disappear without a trace. 1 girl is later found 4 days later with amnesia.
That sounds intriguing...
Thanks in memory of my late bf who's been gone 7 years today
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR DONATION GILL and I'm so sorry to hear about your boyfriend. That's awful :-(
@@HistoryCalling can you still say bf when the couple are in their 50s?
Yes, of course :-)
Entertaining and illuminating, HC! I guess in terms of gory history, Yanks like myself will always have the St. Valentine's Day massacre. On the plus side, some historians consider it the beginning of Al Capone's downfall. I'll avoid bringing up many of your historical points when I give Lena her Valentine's Day present. 😉
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE DONATION STEPHEN. You know I debated a video on the massacre, but I didn't think it would be YT friendly :-)
@@HistoryCalling That's probably the right call, although I'd of course appreciate your perspective.
Fascinating 🧐 Especially Mr Brown’s Valentines Card 💌 oh dear 😅
In the US, we say "Happy Valentine's Day" but never say "Happy Patrick's Day." It's always "St. Patrick's Day." Anyone have a theory explaining this?
Excellent point. Here in the Emerald Isle we do the same thing. I've no idea about an answer though.
Love your content as always.
Glad you enjoy it :-)
I don't have any Valentine's Day practices, favorite or otherwise having never had anything to do with it in all my 71 years. However, I really enjoyed the video.
Think of the money you've saved :-)
I would wish you a Happy Valentines, but then maybe that is not the best wish according to history. Thanks for the great information.
Thanks Helen :-)
I love your channel would it be possible if you could make videos of the kings/queens you dont hear about very often or about nobles etc ...
Almost as messy a history as my own love life.
Oh dear :-0
I honestly never knew valentines day went so far back.
It's been very interesting to learn the history.
Have you considered doing a video on Robin Hood?
Brilliant deep dive into the true origins of this ridiculous "holiday". I am so sick of being labelled "a cynical, cold hearted, unromantic hag" because I prefer to believe historical records about so called "saints" rather than the fantasies dreamed up by greeting card companies and chocolate manufacturers that perpetuate the dangerous belief that if you do not have someone in your life willing to shower you with gifts on a specific day of the year, you are incomplete. Rant over! 😜 Thank you for posting.
Hello from Canada :) Please any information on the art work shown at 20:19
My favourite traditions - celebrating/showing my love for friends, family/children, and husband with love notes and special desert.
4:06 "broken up for parts" apologies in advance, but I'm stealing that
Haha, go right ahead :-)
I thought it had something to do with Chaucer's 'Parliament of Fowles.' 😊❤
And you were spot on :-)
IMO Valentine is as much a myth as Santa Claus. Thanks for confirming that and your very detailed research.
Got a video on Santa too if you're interested :-)
@@HistoryCalling I think I saw that around Xmas time
I only subbed this week ... looks like theres some interesting materials(History Calling videos) for me enjoy 😊
I will be looking out for Santa - When I've looked a little more at the Plantagenets (my mum says we're descendants - I'm trying to be convinced 😂 )
On Valentine’s Day it was fun in my teens when I always received a card to brag about at school, later to find one was from an uncle!
Wonderful for declaring love between couples or shy would ‘bees’ … but that leaves the rest of us, hopeful wives, single people … feeling unloved and rejected. 😭
It’s a romantic idea but just another commercial opportunity for card shops and florists with little historic evidence?
When I met my spouse he 'didn't participate' in Valentine's Day because he claimed it was a made-up holiday by the likes of Hallmark and others. It didn't take me long to figure out he was correct. I get a kick out of all the folks around me running around and panicking to get reservations and gifts at the last minute. People make such a big deal out of it and I find it funny.
"Without original sources to support them, these fanciful stories mean nothing." Oh, how I wish I heard these words more often on RUclips videos!
😍 Love the day after prices.❤
Today's Valentine's Day is an invention of Hallmark, Hershey's, and Zales! The Catholic Church, however, cornered the market on lies based on Valentine, Saint or not.
God, I love that opening theme.
Thank you. I tried to find something chirpy.
I’ve been to Whitefriars in Dublin many times! It’s a very pretty little church right off Grafton Street, so worth ducking into, though the relics are only on display occasionally.
I don't know how I've missed it, as I've been to Grafton Street many times.
My one and only valentine tradition is to get a small box of chocolate covered strawberries for myself. We don’t usually celebrate it.
There's very little in the way of flowers in England in February. I suppose you might get some snowdrops in a sheltered spot in milder areas, or the odd crocus. But not those hedgerow flowers shown....cornflowers and poppies are definitely summer flowers. Some birds do start pairing up, but no self-respecting bee would be out so early. In principle, there's nothing wrong with having a day about love and lovers - a bit of fun. What I don't like is the utter, rampant commercialisation of it. I quite like the lottery idea, as no one is left out. I dislike this notion of "being alone on Valentine's Day" and all associated shaming. The "first person you see" idea is a bit like "first footing" at New Year. I liked the "you have no idea how long I waited for the peacock to turn around" bit. 😆
Yeah, not many flowers here in NI either. The hedgerow flowers were indeed filmed during summer. Weirdly I did see a bee about 10 days ago, but I thought it was bizarre and surely a sign of global warming's effects, as I agree that they shouldn't be out for months yet. Yes, there's a whole piece of extra footage of that peacock's rear end that I edited out because I had to wait so long for it to turn :-)
Hi, happy Monday from Canada 😊 have you done any videos on the life of Elizabeth of York (from birth onward)?
No, but she's next on my list for my women of the Wars of the Roses series.
@@HistoryCalling 💜 I read up on her on Wikipedia but it’s not always accurate lol
Very true. She's a tough one to research though. There's not as much info. on her as one would expect.
I now love Valentine's day because my grand daughter was born on it.😊
Picking flowers from the garden today is VERY limited. Snowdrops and the odd early narcissus.
I get depressed that I don’t have a date, but then I think I could be martyrd for my faith in another time. So it’s not too bad
What a lovely (pun intended) video to release 😂
Indeed it is :-)
👍👍👍👍
So I told my now husband not to ask me out on Valentine's Day because it's corny. We're about to celebrate 11 years together on Feb 16 🤣
That was very smart though. Now he has to buy you a Valentine's Day gift AND an anniversary gift, rather than you only getting one :-)
That was very interesting. I knew something was funny about Valentine’s 😂
There were 3 sisters that were martyred in February & that is prob the best Valentine Day story ever:
A wicked douche who had authority in the Roman Empire used to persecute Christians for entertainment & he especially liked to see them DENY CHRIST rather than lose their heads > well that really made the Roman lose his marbles bcuz instead of using her sisters against her
Cheers.
Thanks Shane :-)
where are you getting the information on KIDO from and how was he able to just 'call upon' the bishop of Terni to heal his son?
At around 7:10 you stated that Claudius I “reigned” from 10 BC to 54 AD. Did you mean “lived” or is this another use of the word 'reign' that this American rube isn’t familiar with?😉 It took me off guard for a moment, because on the authority of this little known and quite obscure book, titled 'The Bible', I was informed that it was Emperor Augustus, whose reign straddled the switchover from BC to AD.😉😆
Oh, and it was Tiberius who ruled in absentia from, I believe, the Isle of Capris.
Excellent! 😁
Thanks! 😃
Actually the Catholics and Anglicans celebrate the lives of brothers St Cyril and Methodius on the 14th February. Poor St Valentine, has been commercialized just like everything.
I'm not familiar with Cyril or Methodius, but I'll take your word for it :-)
My little motorbike's "birthday" (I bought it on Valentin's Day in 2011 when it was sold cheaper as a special V. D. offer)
I prefer this RATHER THAN THE LOVELY DOVEY HOLIDAY we celebrate today.