What Valentine’s Day Looked Like Hundreds of Years Ago

In late 17th-century England, Londoners would hold parties the night before Valentine’s Day where men would select their Valentine and claim her the next day. The rite was treated as more mirthful than as a serious selection for a mate.

An article in an English newspaper in the mid-19th century referenced a late 17th-century poem in which men and women would participate in drawing lots to select their Valentines.

Noted English diarist Samuel Pepys wrote often about Valentine’s Day rituals in 17th-century England. As part of the celebration, women were given small gifts. Pepys wrote about buying gloves for his wife.

You’ve heard the expression “Say it with flowers.” It may have originated in the late 17th century when King Charles II of Sweden went to Persia and saw how the Persians expressed themselves through flowers. Giving a yellow carnation to someone meant that they had disappointed you. A purple hyacinth expressed an apology. Red roses are still associated with profound love.

The first Valentine’s Day cards were homemade and began circulating in the early part of the 19th century in England and later in the United States. The cards were decorated with lace, hearts, and festooned with ribbons.

As Americans began to use the postal service more frequently in the early 19th century (stamps were first used in 1847), Valentine’s Day cards began to be sent anonymously through the mail. And because the cards were anonymous, the sender might compose prose that could be salacious.

The first commercially made Valentine’s Day cards started to appear in England in the 1830s and then in the United States the following decade.

Valentine’s Day card giving can be a bittersweet experience. An early version of trolling was the sending of what are called “Vinegar Valentines” — mean-spirited and hurtful sentiments sent to people. The cards were first sent during the 1840s and gained popularity in the following decades. Some of the contents could be teasing and mocking about one’s physical appearance. And some actually suggested that the reader commit suicide.

Massachusetts native Esther Howland is credited with launching the commercial Valentine’s Day card industry. Howland got the idea after receiving a Valentine’s card when she graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1847. She called her venture New England Valentine Co.

Valentine’s Day cards diversified from purely romantic missives to more political, funny, and satirical sentiments in the mid-part of the 19th century. This tradition continued and these days President Donald J. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are popular subjects of political-themed Valentine’s Day cards.

The National Retail Federation estimates that 52% of Valentine’s Day gift-givers will spend $2.4 billion on candy, and the overwhelming majority of that will be on chocolate. Venerable British chocolate company Cadbury produced the first heart-shaped box of chocolates in the 1860s. Chocolate has been associated with “amour” since at least the time of Aztec Montezuma II, who consumed huge quantities of liquid cocoa beans in the late 15th and early 16th centuries because it was believed that chocolate boosted virility.

Newspapers began to publish stories in the 19th century about the origins of the holiday as well as stories lamenting the decline of romance. Commercial card companies started buying advertisements for Valentine’s Day cards around this time.

As people’s incomes rose in the late 19th century, they sought to express their affection by giving jewelry on Valentine’s Day. Some people thought that this was too much of a capitalist intrusion on a holiday meant for love.

Valentine’s Day cards depicting racial stereotypes were not uncommon in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries. These cards depicted caricatures of African-Americans speaking in ignorant dialects. Blackface depictions on these cards were also common. Stores were not bashful in displaying these Valentines with cardboard cutouts of racially stereotyped children.

By the late 19th century, commercially made cards featured ribbons, glazed paper, feathers, beads and even mirrors. They were expensive, too, some costing as much as $25.

Didn’t get the Valentine’s Day card from the one you hoped for? Grade-school students solved that problem by swapping cards, which goes back to the early 20th century.

Card designs became more simple in the 20th century, with less emphasis on fancier features such as feathers and beads. The cards also included innovations like pull tabs.

Hershey’s introduced the chocolate kisses in 1907 and they have been closely associated with Valentine’s Day ever since. Hershey’s founder Milton Hershey hit on the idea of wrapping the confection in tin foil, believing people wanted to carry the treats around with them. The company began wrapping them in pink and red foil in 1986.

Greeting card company Hallmark first offered Valentine’s Day cards in 1913 and began mass-producing them three years later.

Newspapers such as the English daily The Guardian began publishing messages in their personal columns on Feb. 14. People were able to place personal ads — a message to their Valentine — in the paper.