Editing Valentine's Day (section)

== Connection with romantic love ==

=== Possible ancient origins ===

The "Feast" ({{langx|la|in natali}}, {{lit|on the birthday}}) of Saint Valentine originated in Christendom and has been marked by the Western Church of Christendom in honour of one of the [[Christian martyr]]s named Valentine, as recorded in the 8th-century [[Gelasian Sacramentary]].<ref name="Chapman"/><ref name="Polcar1894"/> In [[Ancient Rome]], [[Lupercalia]] was observed February 13–15 on behalf of [[Pan (god)|Pan]] and [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]], pagan gods of love, marriage and fertility. It was a rite connected to purification and health, and had only slight connection to fertility (as a part of health) and none to love. The celebration of Saint Valentine is not known to have had any romantic connotations until [[Chaucer]]'s poetry about "Valentine's Day" in the 14th century, some seven hundred years after celebration of Lupercalia is believed to have ceased.<ref name="oruch"/>

Lupercalia was a festival local to the city of Rome. The more general Festival of [[Juno Februa]], meaning "Juno the purifier" or "the chaste Juno", was celebrated on February 13–14. Although the Pope [[Gelasius I]] (492–496) article in the Catholic Encyclopedia says that he abolished Lupercalia, theologian and Methodist minister [[Bruce Forbes]] wrote that "no evidence" has been demonstrated to link Saint Valentine's Day and the rites of the ancient Roman purification festival of [[Lupercalia]], despite claims by many authors to the contrary.<ref group="notes">For example, one source claims incorrectly that "Pope Gelasius I muddled things in the 5th century by combining St. Valentine's Day with Lupercalia to expel the pagan rituals." Seipel, Arnie, [https://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133693152/the-dark-origins-of-valentines-day ''The Dark Origins Of Valentine's Day''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427232033/http://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133693152/the-dark-origins-of-valentines-day |date=April 27, 2016 }}, National Public Radio, February 13, 2011</ref><ref name="ansgar"/><ref>{{Cite book |title= Secreted Desires: The Major Uranians: Hopkins, Pater and Wilde |author= Michael Matthew Kaylor |publisher= [[Masaryk University]] Press |year= 2006 |isbn= 80-210-4126-9 |edition= electronic |page= footnote 2 in page 235 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-Wa7SIsAQgAC&q=saint+valentine%27s+day+lupercalia&pg=PA235 }}</ref><ref name="BDForbes2015"/>

Some researchers have theorized that Gelasius I replaced Lupercalia with the celebration of the [[Candlemas|Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary]] and claim a connection to the 14th century's connotations of romantic love, but there is no historical indication that he ever intended such a thing.<ref group="notes">Ansgar, 1976, pp. 60–61. The replacement of Lupercalia with Saint Valentine's celebration was suggested by researchers Kellog and Cox. Ansgar says "It is hardly credible, then, that Pope Gelasius could have introduced the feast of the Purification to counteract the Lupercalia, and in fact the historical records of his pontificate give no hint of such an action."</ref><ref name="BDForbes2015">{{cite book|last=Forbes|first=Bruce David|title=America's Favorite Holidays: Candid Histories|date=October 27, 2015|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|language=en|isbn=9780520284722|page=54|quote=There is no indication in suppressing the Lupercalia, Gelasius put anything else in its place. Much later, in the 1500s, a Cardinal Baronius speculated that Gelasius converted the Lupercalia into the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin (or Candlemas), changing one purification ceremony into another, and many noted authors have repeated this claim. Recent scholarship has refuted Baronius's assertion...there is no evidence that Gelasius advocated a celebration of Valentine's Day as a replacement for the Lupercalia. ... The letter by Gelasius to Andromachus criticizing the Lupercalia contains no reference to Valentine, or Valentine's Day, or any replacement observance.}}</ref><ref name="oruch lupercalia">Jack B. Oruch, "St. Valentine, Chaucer, and Spring in February" ''Speculum'' '''56'''.3 (July 1981:534–565)</ref> Also, the dates do not fit because at the time of Gelasius I, the feast was only celebrated in Jerusalem, and it was on February 14 only because Jerusalem placed the Nativity of Jesus (Christmas) on January 6.<ref group="notes">Ansgar, 1976, pp. 60–61. This feast is celebrated 40 days after the Nativity. In Jerusalem the Nativity was celebrated on January 6, and this feast in February 14. But, in the West and even in Eastern places such as Antioch and Alexandria, Nativity was celebrated on December 25, and this Purification was not celebrated. When this feast was introduced to Rome, it was directly placed in February 2. Around that time, Jerusalem adopted the Nativity date of December 25 and moved the Purification to February 2.</ref> Although it was called "Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary", it also dealt with the presentation of Jesus at the temple.<ref name="auto">Ansgar, 1976, pp. 60–61.</ref> Jerusalem's Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary on February 14 became the [[Presentation of Jesus at the Temple]] on February 2 as it was introduced to Rome and other places in the sixth century, after Gelasius I's time.<ref name="auto"/><!--Candlemas is treated elsewhere; here it is a confusing extraneity: Some historians argue that [[Candlemas]] (then held on February 14, later moved to February 2) was promoted as its replacement, but this feast was already being celebrated in [[Jerusalem]] by AD 381.--><!--the date was established in the martyrologies:"The pope also declared in 500 that the feast of [[St. Valentine]] would be on February 15."-->

While sometimes repeated uncritically by modern sources that men or boys drew names of women or girls from a jar to couple for the duration of Lupercalia, there is no ancient evidence for any kind of lottery or sortition scheme pairing couples for sex. The first descriptions of this fictitious lottery appeared in the 15th century in relation to Valentine's Day, with a connection to the Lupercalia first asserted in 18th century antiquarian works, such as those by [[Alban Butler]] (''[[The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints]]'', 1756–1759) and [[Francis Douce]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Oruch |first=Jack B. |date=1981 |title=St. Valentine, Chaucer, and Spring in February |jstor=2847741 |journal=Speculum |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=534–565 |doi=10.2307/2847741 |issn=0038-7134 |quote=The idea that Valentine's Day customs perpetuated those of the Roman Lupercalia has been accepted uncritically and repeated, in various forms, up to the present. Most of those who offer this now traditional explanation cite no sources... Butler's ideas were prompted, in all probability, by a confused knowledge [or ...] wishful or pious fantasy. }}</ref> These modern sources claimed that the fictional Lupercalia was the source of the practice of sending valentines. 

The practice of sending valentines originated in the Middle Ages, with no link to Lupercalia, with boys drawing the names of girls at random. This custom was combated by priests, for example by [[Frances de Sales]] around 1600, apparently by replacing it with a religious custom of girls drawing the names of apostles from the [[altar]]. However, this religious custom is recorded as early as the 13th century in the life of Saint [[Elizabeth of Hungary]], so it could have a different origin.<ref name="ansgar">Ansgar, 1986, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_bqdZbKPztMC&dq=saint+valentine%27s+lupercalia+year&pg=PA60 58–63]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161001215758/https://books.google.com/books?id=_bqdZbKPztMC&pg=PA60&dq=saint%20valentine%27s%20lupercalia%20year&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uXI4T8CgLITX0QWB4OiSAg&ved=0CDYQ6AEwATgK |date=October 1, 2016 }}</ref>

{{anchor|Chaucer's love}}

=== Chaucer's ''Parliament of Fowls''===
[[File:Chaucer Hoccleve.png|right|thumb|[[Geoffrey Chaucer]] by [[Thomas Hoccleve]] (1412)]]

The first recorded association of Saint Valentine's Day with romantic love is believed to be in the ''[[Parlement of Foules|Parliament of Fowls]]'' (1382) by [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], a [[dream vision]] portraying a parliament for birds to choose their mates.<ref name="oruch">Oruch, Jack B., "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2847741 St. Valentine, Chaucer, and Spring in February] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160621050226/http://www.jstor.org/stable/2847741 |date=June 21, 2016 }}", ''Speculum'', '''56''' (1981): 534–65. Oruch's survey of the literature finds no association between Valentine and romance prior to Chaucer. He concludes that Chaucer is likely to be "the original mythmaker in this instance." [http://colfa.utsa.edu/chaucer/ec23.html Colfa.utsa.edu] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416132301/http://colfa.utsa.edu/chaucer/ec23.html |date=April 16, 2016 }}</ref> Honouring the first anniversary of the engagement of fifteen-year-old King [[Richard II of England]] to fifteen-year-old [[Anne of Bohemia]],<ref name="ansgar2001">{{cite web |url= http://spotlight.ucla.edu/faculty/henry-kelly_valentine/ |title= Henry Ansgar Kelly, Valentine's Day |author= Meg Sullivan |date= February 1, 2001 |work= UCLA Spotlight |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170403001553/http://spotlight.ucla.edu/faculty/henry-kelly_valentine/ |archive-date= April 3, 2017 |df= mdy-all }}</ref> Chaucer wrote (in [[Middle English]]):

<blockquote>"{{lang|enm|For this was on seynt Valentynes day<br />Whan every foul cometh there to chese his make<br />Of every kynde that men thynke may<br />And that so huge a noyse gan they make<br />That erthe, and eyr, and tre, and every lake<br />So ful was, that unethe was there space<br />For me to stonde, so ful was al the place.|italic=no}}"<ref>''The Complete Works of Chaucer'', ed. F.N. Robinson, Oxford University Press, London, p. 366, lines 309-315.</ref><ref>''The Riverside Chaucer'', ed. Larry D. Benson, Oxford University Press, 1987, p. 389, lines 309-315.</ref></blockquote>

In modern English:
<blockquote>"For this was on Saint Valentine's Day<br />When every fowl comes there to choose his match<br />Of every kind that men may think of<br />And that so huge a noise they began to make<br />That earth and air and tree and every lake<br />Was so full, that not easily was there space<br />For me to stand—so full was all the place."</blockquote>

Readers have uncritically assumed that Chaucer was referring to February 14 as Saint Valentine's Day. Henry Ansgar Kelly has observed that Chaucer might have had in mind the feast day of St. Valentine of Genoa, an early [[bishop of Genoa]] who died around AD 307; it was probably celebrated on May 3.<ref name="ansgar2001"/><ref>Kelly, Henry Ansgar, ''Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine'' (Brill Academic Publishers, 1997), {{ISBN|90-04-07849-5}}. Chapter 6 The Genoese St. Valentine, p. 80–83.</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.iol.co.za/general/newsview.php?art_id=qw981696180625B241&click_id=1890&set_id=1 |title=Take heart, Valentine's every other week |newspaper=Independent Online |quote=Kelly gives the saint's day of the Genoese Valentine as May 3 and also claims that Richard's engagement was announced on this day. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205160538/http://www.iol.co.za/general/newsview.php?art_id=qw981696180625B241&click_id=1890&set_id=1 |archive-date=February 5, 2009 |date=February 9, 2001 |access-date=February 14, 2012}}</ref> A treaty providing for Richard II and Anne's marriage, the subject of the poem, was signed on May 2, 1381.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/chaucer/PF.html |title=Chaucer: The Parliament of Fowls |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121120252/http://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/chaucer/PF.html |archive-date=January 21, 2017 }}, wsu.edu</ref>

Jack B. Oruch notes that [[March equinox|the date on which spring begins]] has changed since Chaucer's time because of the [[axial precession|precession of the equinoxes]] and the introduction of the more accurate [[Gregorian calendar]] only in 1582. On the [[Julian calendar]] in use in Chaucer's time, February 14 would have fallen on the date now called February 23, a time when some birds have started mating and nesting in England.<ref name="oruch"/>

Chaucer's ''Parliament of Fowls'' refers to a supposedly established tradition, but there is no record of such a tradition before Chaucer. The speculative derivation of sentimental customs from the distant past began with 18th-century [[Antiquary|antiquaries]], notably [[Alban Butler]], the author of ''Butler's Lives of Saints'', and have been perpetuated even by respectable modern scholars. Most notably, "the idea that Valentine's Day customs perpetuated those of the Roman [[Lupercalia]] has been accepted uncritically and repeated, in various forms, up to the present".<ref name="ansgar"/><ref name="oruch 539">Oruch 1981:539.</ref>

Three other authors who made poems about [[birds mating]] on St. Valentine's Day around the same years: [[Otton de Grandson]] from Savoy, [[John Gower]] from England, and a knight called Pardo from Valencia. Chaucer most probably predated all of them; but due to the difficulty of dating medieval works, it is not possible to ascertain which of the four may have influenced the others.<ref>Ansgar, 1986, Chapter 5, Grandson, Pardo and Gower, pp. 64–76</ref>

=== Court of love ===
The earliest description of February 14 as an annual celebration of love appears in the ''Charter of the Court of Love''. The charter, allegedly issued by [[Charles VI of France]] at [[Mantes-la-Jolie]] in 1400, describes lavish festivities to be attended by several members of the royal court, including a feast, amorous song and poetry competitions, [[jousting]] and dancing.<ref name="ansgar court"/> Amid these festivities, the attending ladies would hear and rule on disputes from lovers.<ref name="goodrich">Goodrich, Peter (1996) ''Law in the Courts of Love''</ref> No other record of the court exists, and none of those named in the charter were present at Mantes except Charles's queen, [[Isabeau of Bavaria]], who may well have imagined it all while waiting out a plague.<ref name="ansgar court">Ansgar, 1986, Chapter 8, The Hibermantino of the Mating Season, pp. 131–138</ref>

===Valentine poetry===
The earliest surviving valentine is a 15th-century [[Rondeau (poetry)|rondeau]] written by [[Charles, Duke of Orléans]] to his wife, which commences.
{{blockquote|"{{lang|frm|Je suis desja d'amour tanné<br />
Ma tres doulce Valentinée...|italics=no}}"|Charles d'Orléans|Rondeau VI, lines 1–2<ref>''[[:wikisource:Translation:A Farewell to Love]]'' in [[wikisource]]</ref>}} At the time, the duke was being held in the [[Tower of London]] following his capture at the [[Battle of Agincourt]], 1415.<ref>[http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day History Channel] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022134903/http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day |date=October 22, 2016 }}, historychannel.com.</ref>

The earliest surviving valentines in English appear to be those in the ''[[Paston Letters]]'', written in 1477 by [[Margery Brews]] to her future husband John Paston "my right well-beloved Valentine".<ref>Davis, Norman. ''The Paston Letters: A Selection in Modern Spelling''. Oxford University Press, 1983 pp. 233–5.</ref>

Saint Valentine's Day is mentioned ruefully by Ophelia in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Hamlet]]'' (1600–1601):
{{blockquote|"To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,<br />All in the morning betime,<br />And I a maid at your window,<br />To be your Valentine.<br />Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,<br />And dupp'd the chamber-door;<br />Let in the maid, that out a maid<br />Never departed more."|William Shakespeare|''Hamlet'', Act IV, Scene 5}}

[[File:John Donne BBC News.jpg|thumb|Noted poet [[John Donne]], {{c.}} 1595.]]
[[John Donne]] used the legend of the marriage of the birds as the starting point for his [[epithalamion]] celebrating the marriage of [[Elizabeth of Bohemia|Elizabeth]], daughter of [[James I of England]], and [[Frederick V, Elector Palatine]], on Valentine's Day:

{{blockquote|"Hayle Bishop Valentine whose day this is<br />
All the Ayre is thy Diocese<br />
And all the chirping Queristers<br />
And other birds ar thy parishioners<br />
Thou marryest every yeare<br />
The Lyrick Lark, and the graue whispering Doue,<br />
The Sparrow that neglects his life for loue,<br />
The houshold bird with the redd stomacher<br />
Thou makst the Blackbird speede as soone,<br />
As doth the Goldfinch, or the Halcyon<br />
The Husband Cock lookes out and soone is spedd<br />
And meets his wife, which brings her feather-bed.<br />
This day more cheerfully than ever shine<br />
This day which might inflame thy selfe old Valentine."|John Donne|''Epithalamion Vpon Frederick Count Palatine and the Lady Elizabeth marryed on St. Valentines day''}}

The verse "[[Roses Are Red|Roses are red]]" echoes conventions traceable as far back as [[Edmund Spenser]]'s epic ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'' (1590):

<blockquote>"She bath'd with roses red, and violets blew,<br />
And all the sweetest {{sic|flowres}}, that in the forrest grew."<ref>Spenser, ''The Faery Queene'' iii, Canto 6, Stanza 6: [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/fq/fq32.htm on-line text] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304061514/http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/fq/fq32.htm |date=March 4, 2016 }}</ref></blockquote>

The modern cliché Valentine's Day poem can be found in ''[[Gammer Gurton's Garland]]'' (1784), a collection of English nursery rhymes published in London by [[Joseph Johnson (publisher)|Joseph Johnson]]:

<blockquote>"The rose is red, the violet's blue,<br />
The honey's sweet, and so are you.<br />
Thou art my love and I am thine;<br />
I drew thee to my Valentine:<br />
The lot was cast and then I drew,<br />
And Fortune said it shou'd be you."<ref>''Gammer Gurton's Garland'' (London, 1784) in I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd ed., 1997), p. 375.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=XtAqAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22I+drew+thee+to+my+Valentine%22&pg=PA14 ''Gammer Gurton's Garland''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324141821/https://books.google.com/books?id=XtAqAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22I+drew+thee+to+my+Valentine%22&pg=PA14 |date=March 24, 2023 }}, original 1810 version. Also [https://archive.org/stream/gammergurtonsgar00ritsiala/gammergurtonsgar00ritsiala_djvu.txt 1810 version reprinted in 1866] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410212732/https://archive.org/stream/gammergurtonsgar00ritsiala/gammergurtonsgar00ritsiala_djvu.txt |date=April 10, 2016 }} that uses more modern grammar like "should" instead of "shou'd".</ref></blockquote>

=== Modern times ===
[[File:Card; valentine card - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright|left|An English Victorian era Valentine card located in the [[Museum of London]]]]
In 1797, a British publisher issued ''The Young Man's Valentine Writer'', which contained scores of suggested sentimental [[Verse (poetry)|verses]] for the young lover unable to compose his own. Printers had already begun producing a limited number of cards with verses and sketches, called "mechanical valentines". Paper Valentines became so popular in England in the early 19th century that they were assembled in factories. Fancy Valentines were made with real lace and ribbons, with paper lace introduced in the mid-19th century.<ref>{{cite web |author=Vivian Krug Hotchkiss|url=http://www.emotionscards.com/museum/vals.html |title=Emotionscards.com |publisher=Emotionscards.com |date=February 14, 1910 |access-date=August 6, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807022738/http://www.emotionscards.com/museum/vals.html |archive-date=August 7, 2011 }}</ref> In 1835, 60,000 Valentine cards were sent by post in the United Kingdom, despite postage being expensive.<ref>[http://www.mmu.ac.uk/news/news-items/1218/ "Valentine cards reveal Britain's relationship history"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415135805/http://www.mmu.ac.uk/news/news-items/1218/ |date=April 15, 2016 }}, Manchester Metropolitan University, Retrieved February 8, 2014</ref>

A [[Penny Post#United Kingdom|reduction in postal rates]] following [[Rowland Hill (postal reformer)|Sir Rowland Hill]]'s postal reforms with the 1840 invention of the postage stamp ([[Penny Black]]) saw the number of Valentines posted increase, with 400,000 sent just one year after its introduction, and ushered in the less personal but easier practice of mailing Valentines.<ref name="Vincent">{{cite book|last1=Vincent|first1=David|title=Literacy and Popular Culture: England 1750–1914|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=44, 45}}</ref> That made it possible for the first time to exchange cards anonymously, which is taken as the reason for the sudden appearance of racy verse in an era otherwise prudishly [[Victorian era|Victorian]].<ref>Charles Panati (1987). Extraordinary origins of everyday things. p.57. Perennial Library, 1987</ref> Production increased, "Cupid's Manufactory" as [[Charles Dickens]] termed it, with over 3,000 women employed in manufacturing.<ref name="Vincent"/> The [[Laura Seddon Greeting Card Collection]] at [[Manchester Metropolitan University]] gathers 450 Valentine's Day cards dating from early 19th century Britain, printed by the major publishers of the day.<ref>{{cite web| title = MMU Special Collections – Victorian Ephemera| publisher = [[Manchester Metropolitan University]]| url = http://www.specialcollections.mmu.ac.uk/victoria.php| access-date = November 8, 2013| url-status = live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131109164103/http://www.specialcollections.mmu.ac.uk/victoria.php| archive-date = November 9, 2013| df = mdy-all}}</ref> The collection appears in Seddon's book ''Victorian Valentines'' (1996).<ref>{{cite book| title = Victorian Valentines: A Guide to the Laura Seddon Collection of Valentine Cards in Manchester Metropolitan University Library| publisher = [[Manchester Metropolitan University]]| year = 1996| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5swmAAAACAAJ&q=Victorian+Valentines+seddon| author = Laura Seddon| access-date = November 8, 2013| url-status = live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140103002756/http://books.google.com/books?id=5swmAAAACAAJ&dq=Victorian+Valentines+seddon&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2OJ8UuGqEqLR7AbPt4CgBw&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA| archive-date = January 3, 2014| df = mdy-all| isbn = 9780901276544}}</ref>

[[File:Red Roses (6862116332).jpg|thumb|upright|Flowers, such as red roses (pictured), are often sent on Valentine's Day.]]
In the United States, the first mass-produced Valentines of embossed paper lace were produced and sold shortly after 1847 by [[Esther Howland]] (1828–1904) of [[Worcester, Massachusetts]].<ref name="american" /><ref name=devereux /> Her father operated a large book and stationery store, but Howland took her inspiration from an English Valentine she had received from a business associate of her father.<ref>''Hobbies, Volume 52, Issues 7–12'' p.18. Lightner Pub. Co., 1947</ref><ref name=TRE/> Intrigued with the idea of making similar Valentines, Howland began her business by importing paper lace and floral decorations from England.<ref name=TRE>{{cite web |author=Vivian Krug Hotchkiss |url=http://www.emotionscards.com/museum/estherhowland.htm |title=Esther Howland |publisher=Emotionscards.com |access-date=August 6, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722235315/http://www.emotionscards.com/museum/estherhowland.htm |archive-date=July 22, 2011 }}</ref><ref>Dean, Dorothy (1990) ''On the Collectible Trail'' p.90. Discovery Publications, 1990</ref>

A writer in ''Graham's American Monthly'' observed in 1849, "Saint Valentine's Day&nbsp;... is becoming, nay it has become, a national holyday."<!--holyday in the original--><ref>Quoted in Schmidt 1993:209.</ref> The English practice of sending Valentine's cards was established enough to feature as a plot device in [[Elizabeth Gaskell]]'s ''[[Mr. Harrison's Confessions]]'' (1851): "I burst in with my explanations: 'The valentine I know nothing about.' 'It is in your handwriting', said he coldly."<ref>Gaskell, Elizabeth ''Cranford and Selected Short Stories'' p. 258. Wordsworth Editions, 2006.</ref> Since 2001, the Greeting Card Association has been giving an annual "Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary".<ref name=devereux>{{Cite book |title= Love & Romance Facts, Figures & Fun |author= Eve Devereux |edition= illustrated |publisher= AAPPL Artists & Photographers Press |year= 2006 |isbn= 1-904332-33-1 |page= 28 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=MCAC8mnwEIEC }}</ref>

Since the 19th century, handmade cards have given way to mass-produced [[greeting cards]].<ref name="Leigh Eric Schmidt 1993 pp. 209–245"/> In the UK, just under half of the population spend money on their Valentines, and around £1.9&nbsp;billion was spent in 2015 on cards, flowers, chocolates, and other gifts.<ref>{{cite web
 |title=Valentine's Day spending set to top £1.9bn in United Kingdom
 |url=http://www.brc.org.uk/details04.asp?id=1091&kCat=&kData=1
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080204235054/http://www.brc.org.uk/details04.asp?id=1091&kCat=&kData=1
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-date=February 4, 2008
|publisher=[[British Retail Consortium]]
}}</ref> The mid-19th century Valentine's Day trade was a harbinger of further commercialized holidays in the U.S. to follow.<ref name="Leigh Eric Schmidt 1991 pp 890–98">Leigh Eric Schmidt, "The Commercialization of the calendar: American holidays and the culture of consumption, 1870–1930" ''Journal of American History'' '''78'''.3 (December 1991) pp 890–98.</ref>

[[File:Elmer Valentine boxed chocolates.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A gift box of chocolates, which is a common gift for Valentine's Day]]
In 1868, the British chocolate company [[Cadbury]] created Fancy Boxes – a decorated box of chocolates – in the shape of a heart for Valentine's Day.<ref name="Chocolates">{{cite book|last=Mintz|first=Sidney|title=The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets|date=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=157}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Guinness World Records 2017 |date=September 8, 2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hxAyDQAAQBAJ&q=cadbury+chocolate+boxes+1868&pg=PA90 |publisher=Guinness World Records |page=90 |isbn=9781910561348 |quote=[[Richard Cadbury]], eldest son of John Cadbury who founded the now iconic brand, was the first chocolate-maker to commercialize the association between confectionery and romance, producing a heart-shaped box of chocolates for Valentine's Day in 1868 |access-date=September 20, 2021 |archive-date=March 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324141123/https://books.google.com/books?id=hxAyDQAAQBAJ&q=cadbury+chocolate+boxes+1868&pg=PA90 |url-status=live }}</ref> Boxes of filled chocolates quickly became associated with the holiday.<ref name="Chocolates"/> In the second half of the 20th century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manner of gifts, such as giving [[jewelry]].

The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately 190 million valentines are sent each year in the US. Half of those valentines are given to family members other than husband or wife, usually to children. When the valentine-exchange cards made in school activities are included the figure goes up to 1&nbsp;billion, and teachers become the people receiving the most valentines.<ref name="american">{{cite web |url= http://www.greetingcard.org/userfiles/file/2010%20Valentines%20Day.pdf |title= Americans Valentine's Day |year= 2010 |access-date= February 16, 2010 |publisher= U.S. Greeting Card Association |archive-date= February 4, 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230204150611/http://www.greetingcard.org/userfiles/file/2010%20Valentines%20Day.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref>

The increase in use of the Internet around the turn of the millennium is creating new traditions. Every year, millions of people use digital means of creating and sending Valentine's Day greeting messages such as [[e-cards]], love coupons and printable greeting cards. Valentine's Day is considered by some to be a [[Hallmark holiday]] due to its commercialization.<ref name="wp">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/on-valentines-day-do-we-still-need-hallmark/2012/02/08/gIQAsaKP4Q_story.html |title=On Valentine's Day, do we still need Hallmark? |last=Lenz |first=Kristin |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=February 10, 2012 |access-date=February 14, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217220055/http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/on-valentines-day-do-we-still-need-hallmark/2012/02/08/gIQAsaKP4Q_story.html |archive-date=February 17, 2012 }}</ref>

In 2016, the [[Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales|Catholic Bishops of England and Wales]] established a [[novena]] prayer "to support single people seeking a spouse ahead of St Valentine's Day."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2016/02/12/bishops-release-novena-for-single-catholics-ahead-of-st-valentines-day/|title=Bishops release novena for single Catholics ahead of St Valentine's Day|last=Teahan|first=Madeleine|date=February 12, 2016|newspaper=[[The Catholic Herald]]|language=en|access-date=February 12, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213092804/http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2016/02/12/bishops-release-novena-for-single-catholics-ahead-of-st-valentines-day/|archive-date=February 13, 2016}}</ref>