CHAP. XX. Of Valentine-Day; its Ceremonies; what the Council of Trullus thought of such Customs; that they had better be omitted. IT is a Ceremony, never omitted among the Vulgar, to draw Lots, which they Term Valentines, on the Eve before * Valentine-day. The Names of a select Number of one Sex, are by an equal Number of the other put into some Vessel; and after that, every one draws a Name, which for the present is called their Valentine, and is also look'd upon as a good Omen of their being Man and Wife afterwards. There is a rural Tradition, that on this Day every † Bird chuses its Mate. From this perhaps * Valentine a Presbyter of the Church was beheaded under Claudius the Emperor. ↑ Mature the Wicare of the Almightie Lord That hote, colde. hzvie, light, moist, and drie hath knit, by even nomber of Accord, In easie Woice, began to speak and fay, foules take hede of my Sentence I pray, And for your own ease, in fordring of your need. perhaps the youthful Part of the World hath first practised this Custom, so common at this Season. * In the Trullan Council we have Lots and Divinations forbid, as being some of those Things which provoked the LORD to anger against King Manasses, who used Lots and Divinations, &c. upon which the Scholiast hath these Words. + The Custom of drawing Lots was after this Manner; on the 23d Day of June, which is the Eve of St. John Baptist, Men and Women were accustomed to gather together in the Evening by the Sea-side, or in some certain Houses, and there adorn a Girl, who was her Parents first-begotten Child, after the Manner of a Bride. Then they feasted and leaped after the Manner of Bacchanals, and danced and shouted as they were wont to do on their Holy-days: After this they poured into a narrow-neck'd Vessel some of the SeaWater, and put also into it certain Things be Pe know well, how on St. Ualentine's Day *2 Lib. Kings, Chap. 21. + Can. 65. in Syn. Trul. in Bals. P. 440. Chaucer. longing longing to each of them. Then as if the Devil gifted the Girl, with the Faculty of telling future Things; they would enquire with a loud Voice, about the good or evil Fortune that should attend them: Upon this the Girl would take out of the Vessel, the first Thing that came to Hand, and shew it, and give it to the Owner; who upon receiving it, was so foolish as to imagine himself wiser, as to the good or evil Fortune that should attend him, This Custom, as he tells us a little after, is altogether diabolical: And surely it was so, being used as a presage of what was future. Was the Custom of the Lots now mention'd, used as among the Heathens, they would no Doubt be as worthy of Condemnation; but as far as I know, there is but little Credit given to them; tho' that little is too much, and ought to be laid aside. But if the Custom was used without any Mixture or Allay of Superstition, as I believe it is in some Places, yet it is often attended with great Inconveniences and Misfortunes, with Uneasinesses to Families, with Scandal, and sometimes with Ruin. OBSER OBSERVATIONS ON CHAP. XX. Festa Valentino rediit lux Quisque sibi sociam jam legit ales avem. Inde sibi dominam per sortes quærere in annum Quisque legit Dominam, quam casto observet amore BUCHANAN. BIRDS are said to choose their Mates about this Time of the Year, and probably from thence came the Custom of young Persons chusing Valentines or special loving Friends on that Day: This is the commonly received Opinion.-I rather incline to controvert this, supposing it to be the Remains of an antient Superstition in the Church of Rome on this Day, of choosing Patrons for the Year ensuing; and that, because Ghosts were thought to walk on the Night of this Day*, or about this Time. Gallantry seems to have borrowed this, or rather to have taken it up, when Superstition (at the Reformation) had been compelled to let it fall. I have scarched the Legend of St. Valentine, but *This I find in an Observation of the 14th of February, in the old Romish Calendar so often cited: "Manes nocte vagari creduntur." think there is no Occurrence in his Life, that could have given Rise to this Ceremony*. The learned Moresin tells † us, that at this Festival, the Men used to make the Women presents, as upon another Occasion the Women used to do to the Men, but that in Scotland on this Day presents were made reciprocally. Mr. Gay has left us a poetical Description of some rural Ceremonies used on the Morning of this Day. Last Valentine, the Day when Birds of Kind I rearly rose, just at the break of Day, Before the Sun had chas'd the Stars away; To milk my Kine (for so should Housewives do) In spite of Fortune shall our true Love be‡, Mr. Wheatley in his Illustration of the Common Prayer, p. 61, tells us, that St. Valentine was a Man of most admirable Parts and so famous for his Love and Charity, that the Custom of chusing Valentines upon his Festival, (which is still practised) took its rise from thence. I know not how my Reader will be satisfied with this learned Writer's Explication.-He has given us no Premises in my Opinion, from whence we can draw any such Conclusion.—Were not all the Saints supposed to be famous for their Love and Charity? Surely he does not mean that we should understand the Word Love here, as implying Gallantry! "Et vere ad Valentini festum à viris habent Fœminæ munera, "et alio temporis viris dantur. In Scotia autem ad Valentini reci66 proce fuêre dationes." Moresini Deprav. Rel. 160. Mr. Pennant, in his Tour in Scotland tells us, that in February young Persons draw Valentines, and from thence collect their future Fortune in the nuptial State. Dr. Goldsmith, in his Vicar of Wakefield, describing the Manners of some Rustics, tells us "they kept up the Christmas Carrol, "sent True love Knots on Valentine Morning, eat Pancakes on "Shrove-tide, shewed their Wit on the first of April, and religiously "cracked Nuts on All-hallow Eve." CHAP. |