Pope Valentine’s lottery of patrons

14 February · Britain

Lore and belief

Drawing valentines was said to have begun as a lottery among poor clergy for patrons for the coming year. Taylor made Valentine a ninth-century pope who set up the custom on this day, the patrons being called valentines, and claimed he choked on a fish-bone forty days after taking office. The laity copied it from the clergy, and with the birds choosing their mates the same day, young people wrote verses and cut paper with scissors, pen and pencil for their chosen or allotted lovers.

who, on this day, established an annual custom of the poorer clergy drawing patrons by lots for the commenced year; and these patrons or benefactors were called Valentines.

From Taylor's Antiquitates Curiosae, 2nd ed., p. 48. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

Valentine buns at Peterborough No longer kept NorthamptonshireIn Peterborough and the villages of north Northamptonshire, sweet plum buns called Valentine buns were baked for St Valentine's Day.
Sweeping the girls No longer kept DerbyshireIn Derbyshire a girl who had not been kissed by Valentine's morning was said to be dusty, and had to be swept with a broom.
Eggs on the Saturday before Shrove Sunday No longer kept Northern EnglandEggs were the dish for the Saturday before Shrove Sunday, the first of a run of set foods for the days leading into Lent.
The apprentices’ egg feast No longer kept EnglandThe Saturday before Shrove Tuesday was the egg feast, and apprentices once kept it as a great holiday.
Valentine pence in Oxfordshire No longer kept OxfordshireIn Oxfordshire the children went about on Valentine's Day collecting pence and singing a short rhyme asking each householder for a valentine.
Catching valentines before sunrise No longer kept NorfolkIn Norfolk children tried to catch one another for valentines on St Valentine's morning, and took special care to catch any elderly people in the family who were likely to be generous.
Good Morrow, Valentine at Weston Favell No longer kept NorthamptonshireReviewing John Cole's little history of Weston Favell, near Northampton, in 1827, Hone noted the village's round of customs.
The Valentine Letter-shower Still kept EnglandBy the 1860s the drawing of valentines had given way to sending anonymous letters.
When the Birds Choose Their Mates Lore and belief EnglandAmong the common people it was believed that St Valentine's Day was the day on which the birds chose their mates, and that something of the same influence lay on young men and women, so that a partner chosen by lot or chance that day was in some degree binding.
Good Morrow, Valentine No longer kept HertfordshireIn many parts of Hertfordshire the poorer children gathered on Valentine's morning and went together to the house of the chief person of the place, who threw wreaths and true lovers' knots to them from a window.
Lynn Mart Still kept NorfolkKing's Lynn's great annual mart was granted by Henry VIII to begin the day after Candlemas, and after the change of calendar in 1752 it was proclaimed on Valentine's Day.
Drawing Valentines No longer kept England, ScotlandThe old ceremony of St Valentine's Day was a lottery.

Pope Valentine’s lottery of patrons

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