Elmer Atkinson, age 12, of Decatur, Ala., for his question:
WHY DO WE CELEBRATE VALENTINE'S DAY?
Authorities don't agree as to why we celebrate Valentine's Day. Some say the event links one or more saints of the early Christian church. Others say it came from an old English belief that birds choose their mates on February 14. And still others say the event came from the Roman festival called Lupercalia.
We probably celebrate Valentine's Day because of a combination of these three sources. And also because we believe that spring is a time for lovers.
There were at least two saints named Valentine in the early Christian church. One was a priest who secretly married young couples even though an order had been issued ordering young men to stay single. A second Valentine was an early Christian who had made friends with many children. When he was put into prison because he refused to worship the ancient Roman gods, the children tossed loving notes to him between the bars of his cell window.
St. Valentine, in time, came to be known as the special saint of lovers.
The earliest records of Valentine's Day in English tell us that birds chose their mates on this day. But the day soon became the time to send rhymed love notes.
Each Valentine's Day in England during the 1700s, unmarried women pinned five bay leaves to their pillows. If the charm worked, they saw their future husbands in their dreams.
During the same period of time, Englishwomen also wrote men's names on scraps of paper, rolled each in a little clay and then dropped them into water. The first paper that rose to the surface supposedly had the name of a woman's true love.
The custom of sending romantic messages grew during the 1700s and 1800s. By the early 1800s, commercial Valentine's Day cards were available with space to write personal messages.
A woman named Esther Howland of Worcester, Mass., was the first person in the United States to manufacture Valentine's Day cards. She went into business in 1847.
By the mid 1980s, comic cards became very popular. Selling for a penny each, the cards came to be known as penny dreadfuls. Here's the type of verse that was used:
'Tis all in vain your simpering looks, You never can incline, with all your bustles, stays and curls, To find a valentine.' Today, penny dreadfuls and other old valentine cards have become very valuable collectors' items.
By the early 1900s, Valentine's Day cards included cupids and showed arrows piercing hearts. Many cards used satin, ribbon or lace trim. Others were made of dried flowers, feathers, imitation jewels, mother of pearl, sea shells or tassels. Many cost as much as $10.