Lest you were wondering – but I'm sure you weren't – here is the TRUE meaning behind why we celebrate the Feast of St Valentine...
And in case you are among the many millions of Valentine-less people irritated by the fact that seemingly everyone else is celebrating being (or hoping to be) in love, here are a few decidedly cranky – in some cases downright scary – vintage Valentine's cards to make you grateful not to be on some people's romantic mailing list!
This one moves...
...though you might wish it didn't!
And one for the lads...
Some of these cards are quite old (the hippo, the pig and the heart-eating monkey) others, I have learned, are from a later period as 'Anonymous' intriguingly reveals in the comments below.
Anon's entertaining reminiscence was accompanied by a link to one of his favourite Valentine's Day cards, featuring a couple of Disney characters, and (to save you having to copy and paste the link), I've 'madly' decided to add here for everyone's amusement...
These cards come from various sites on the net, including The Mitch O'Connell Blog where you will find a great many more!
8 comments:
I've never received a Valentine card in my life and now I'm really glad about that. Those are painful!
These are hilarious, and they bring back wonderful memories. Most of them are not serious Valentine cards that would have been exchanged by lovers, but rather cards that were purchased in multi-card packages for distribution by American school children. Whether this still happens, I cannot say, but it used to be one of the highlights of the school year.
In the days before Valentine's Day, there would be a class activity in which each student made a Valentine box (or sometimes a paper pouch), which was then displayed on his or her desk. These were usually shoeboxes with a slit cut in the top, decorated with red and pink paper, stickers, paper lace, etc. On Valentine's Day, there would be a party with cupcakes, candy, etc., and everyone would walk around the room and distribute Valentine cards by dropping them into each person's box. You would then sit and eat your treats and open your cards (basically one from everyone in the room). I always insisted that my mother buy a box of cards with Disney characters on them (naturally), and those were also the cards I most valued from among those I received. (My childhood was the late sixties/early seventies, by the way.)
Here is a link to what was probably my favorite card (though anything with one or more of the seven dwarfs on it would also send me into an ecstatic state) . . .
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OpXcOByBvGM/TzqoPWqt89I/AAAAAAAAD4E/IT1pgz2UT80/s1600/hatter+and+alice+valentine+tri-fold+640.png
Are you choosing Anonymity because it's Valentine's Day? Because I believe I know your identity. In fact, unlike the Caterpillar, I don't need to ask "Who are you?"!
Anyway, thanks for the background to some of these cards which is fascinating! As your link only works if you copy and paste) I've added your card to the post - with much appreciation and appropriate greetings!
I'm sure you've spotted them by now, but there are a couple more Disney Valentine's Day cards here.
You think you know me, but not today.
Go to Halloween and Uncle Ray.
There you will find a different disguise:
A bookish figure before your eyes.
Stretch your mind and make it bend.
I might just live in “Howard’s End.”
Hmmmm?
* scratching head thoughtfully *
I read your blog from time to time and last commented on your Ray Bradbury Halloween post last year. I usually sign in under the pseudonym Leonard Bast. This morning, I have been lazy about signing into Google and have just used the anonymous option. . . . or, if that explanation makes no sense, then I just might be HRH the Prince of Wales, pretending to be an American!
Leonard! How funny you should have linked to the card that Matt posted on his Alice blog!
Now, tell me, is it true of you, as was said of your namesake in Howards End: "His brain is filled with the husks of books, culture — horrible; we want him to wash out his brain"? I'm sure not! ;)
No doubt there are husks aplenty blowing around up there, though I don't generally suffer from Leonard's lack of education, only from his lack of economic status (his climb up to the lowest rung of the middle class ladder, only be knocked back by "helpful" middle and upper class people, rings very true for many in the U.S. at this point in time).
Here's a good Leonard Bast quotation:
"The boy, Leonard Bast, stood at the extreme verge of gentility. He was not in the abyss, but he could see it, and at times people whom he knew had dropped in, and counted no more. He knew that he was poor, and would admit it: he would have died sooner than confess any inferiority to the rich. This may be splendid of him. But he was inferior to most rich people, there is not the least doubt of it. He was not as courteous as the average rich man, nor as intelligent, nor as healthy, nor as lovable. His mind and his body had been alike underfed, because he was poor, and because he was modern they were always craving better food. Had he lived some centuries ago, in the brightly coloured civilizations of the past, he would have had a definite status, his rank and his income would have corresponded. But in his day the angel of Democracy had arisen, enshadowing the classes with leathern wings, and proclaiming, "All men are equal--all men, that is to say, who possess umbrellas," and so he was obliged to assert gentility, lest he slipped into the abyss where nothing counts, and the statements of Democracy are inaudible."
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