Valentine Traditions

Hundreds of years ago in England, many children dressed up as adults on Valentine's Day.They went singing from home to home.
One verse they sang was:

Good morning to you, valentine;
Curl your locks as I do mine---
Two before and three behind.
Good morning to you, valentine.

In Wales wooden love spoons were carved and given as gifts on February 14th. Hearts, keys and keyholes were favorite decorations on the spoons. The decoration meant, "You unlock my heart!"

Some people used to believe that if a woman saw a robin-flying overhead on Valentine's Day, it meant she would marry a sailor. If she saw a sparrow, she would marry a poor man and be very happy. If she saw a goldfinch, she would marry a millionaire. A love seat is a wide chair. It was first made to seat one woman and her wide dress. Later, the love seat or courting seat had two sections, often in an
S-shape. In this way, a couple could sit together but not too closely!

Think of five or six names of boys or girls you might marry, as you twist the stem of an apple, recite the names until the stem comes off. You will marry the person whose name you were saying when the stem fell off. Pick a dandelion that has gone to seed. Take a deep breath and blow the seeds into the wind. Count the seeds that remain on the stem. That is the number of children you will have. If you cut an apple in half and count how many seeds are inside, you will also know how many children you will have.

Valentine's Day Music Links:

• Irish Valentine's Day MP3
• Free Celtic Valentine's Day Music
• Celtic Weddings

Labels: scribbles

---
New to Marc Gunn's blog? Consider subscribing to my RSS feed: Subscribe to this blog's feed. Or sign up to get email updates and join my street team!

posted by Marc Gunn @ Thursday, February 02, 2006