Valentine's Day

Next: Sunday 14 February 2027

14 February, the feast of St Valentine, kept as a day for sweethearts since the Middle Ages; in Norfolk, Jack Valentine leaves gifts on the doorstep.

The year ahead

Nothing listed for this period yet.

Folklore from the old calendars

Bay Leaves and a Salted Egg Lore and belief EnglandA girl writing in the Connoisseur in the 1750s describes her Valentine's Eve.
Drawing Valentines No longer kept England, ScotlandThe old ceremony of St Valentine's Day was a lottery.
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.
Valentine’s Eve in Norfolk Still kept NorfolkIn Norfolk St Valentine's Eve was the night for giving presents.