St. Patricks Day and Valentines Day(Group B)
Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is a holiday where people all over the world display their affection towards lovers or loved ones through acts of kindness and affection that can be traced back all the way to 3rd century Rome. There is uncertainty when it comes to the identity of the true St. Valentine, the Catholic church recognizes three saints named Valentine or Valentinus. One legend states Valentine was a Priest during the 3rd century in Rome, and others believe it was Saint Valentine of Terni who was a Bishop. Although Valentine's day stands as a symbol for beauty and love in today's world, many people claim the Christian church may have placed St. Valentines feast day mid - February to "Christianize" the pagan celebration of Lupercalia, a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus (the Roman god of Agriculture). Lupercalia was outlawed at the end of the 5th Century when Pope Gelasius declared February 14th Valentine’s Day, thus beginning the transition into a holiday dedicated to love. Valentine’s day has several classic symbols and traditions which occur on this day, a couple of which are depicted amongst Jewell Genevieve's mementos from this holiday.
Valentine's Cards
One of these mementos is an envelope with a kiss on it which symbolizes the classic tradition of sending a lover a valentine’s card. One tale says this tradition began when St. Valentine was imprisoned and sent a letter to a young woman who he was in love with before his passing and ended the letter with "From your Valentine". Whatever the true origin may be formal messages or valentines appeared in the 1500's and by the late 1700's commercially distributed cards existed, the first commercial valentines in the United States were printed in the mid - 1800's.
Red Hearts
Red hearts are another common symbol of Valentine’s Day found among Cooper's things because they were thought to be the seed of human emotion, although not true the heart remains a staple of Valentine’s Day.
Cupid
Cooper's mementos also feature a cutout of baby Cupid along with a "Cupid's heart Circuit" displaying the connection between Valentine’s Day and Cupid, the Roman God of love.
St. Patrick's Day
St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday dedicated to the Roman Catholic feast day in honor of the death of patron Saint of Ireland St. Patrick on March 17, 461 and is celebrated on this day yearly. St. Patrick is celebrated because he confronted the Druids at Tara and abolished their Pagan rites, thus making Christianity wider spread and cementing himself as a Catholic hero. St. Patrick’s began as a religious feast day and celebrations in Ireland were modest, it was when Irish people emigrated to the United States that big celebrations and parades came to be. In fact, St. Patrick’s became an Irish holiday in 1903 and quiet observances were typical well into the 20th century, with most Pubs being closed on this holiday until the 1970's. In the 1760's Irishmen stationed in New York organized the first annual New York parade which is still a tradition today, examples such as these helped to popularize the holiday all across the United States and modify the manners in which it was celebrated. There are several symbols and traditions associated with St. Patrick’s Day represented in Cooper's scrapbook such as the lucky shamrock.
The Shamrock
Legend says that St. Patrick used the shamrock/clover to explain the Trinity thus making it a worldwide symbol for the holiday and good fortune. The shamrock has become a symbol for Irish pride and heritage all together, an example would be Notre Dame's use of the symbol in support of their schools "Fighting Irish".
The Color Green
Despite blue being the original color traditionally associated with St. Patrick; green is the color massively attributed to the holiday and has been in the United States for centuries. One of the reasons Green replaced Blue was because of Ireland's nickname the "Emerald Isle", the green stripe in the Irish flag played a role as well because Green represents the Catholics of Ireland.
St. Patrick’s Day In 1925
St. Patrick’s Day has always been a day dedicated to group feasting tracing back to its origin, and you see a tradition noted by Cooper as the "FKT dinner in dining room on Nov 14, 1925". Another classic tradition associated with St. Patrick’s Day is the gathering of friends to socialize in all different forms and fashions whether it be drinking and dancing in pubs or just to socialize, we see this in the note Cooper has about her "St. Pat party in Reynolds". While I wasn't able to find anything about these particular events, there were some significant things going on in the world and for St. Patrick's Day. In Ireland, the holiday finally adopted some sort of a spectacle and started having their annual military parade, it was a somber event and bars were closed for the day but the transition to festivities had begun. In America, the roaring 20's were in full effect and the annual festivities such as the Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia parades and other social gatherings were booming.
Works Cited
History.com Editors. “History of Valentine's Day.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 22 Dec. 2009, www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day-2.
Murtaugh, Taysha. “The History of Valentine's Day Actually Isn't That Romantic.” Country Living, Country Living, 5 Feb. 2020, www.countryliving.com/life/a46353/history-of-valentines-day/.
Nowak, Claire. “Why Do We Wear Green on St. Patrick's Day?” Reader's Digest, Reader's Digest, 4 Mar. 2020, www.rd.com/culture/wear-green-st-patricks-day/.
Square, Zócalo Public. “How America Invented St. Patrick's Day.” Time, Time, 15 Mar. 2015, time.com/3744055/america-invented-st-patricks-day/.
“St. Patrick's Day.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 21 Aug. 2018, www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Valentine's Day.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 18 Apr. 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/Valentines-Day.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Saint Patrick's Day.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 18 Feb. 2020, www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Patricks-Day.
“The Origins of St. Patrick's Day.” Georgia Public Broadcasting, PBS, 20 Feb. 2017, www.gpb.org/education/origins-of-st-patricks-day.