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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 1984)
Tuesday, February 14, 1984/The Battalion/Page 7 CS& il 7:30 V-day Valentine’s day activities, symbols have ancient beginnings seek at CAMP- ampiis ion on tpel at Muter- Week, indon ay and teld at id at 7 meet- talSd ornthe ay and ies will die Bi- Id at 1 speak, leetiny; (meet- Bobbi fEE:A xmyon Judder idiand Weslev $1 for ae held ill 846- A AL- ilS for :l Mark enieet- at 8:30 din for! gaurza- ( IT. for By CATHERINE BELL Reporter St. Valentine’s Day long has been symbolized by cupids, red roses, pictures of hancf-holding couples, lipstick-smeared kisses inside romantic lacy cards and those curvey little red hearts. The way some of these sym bols came to represent the day for courting lovers often is sur prising. Today’s use of the heart sym bol, calling Feb. 14 St. Valen tine’s day andchoosing to be lieve that a fat, scantily-clad, little archer named Cupid can help us fall in love — have little to do with the historical mean ings behind these symbols. The heart-shaped symbol — recognized by lovers and other assorted romantics as the sym bol for Valentine’s Day, ro mance and bonding affection — has a history that can be traced as far back as the caveman. Cavemen were the First to fashion a form of an arrow- pierced heart for fertility pur poses. According to art histori ans’ theories, in the caveman’s drawings, the heart minus the upper curves were used to sym- I bolize the female genitals, the arrow piercing the vee was a phallic representation for the male genitals. This drawing was used to promote fertility as well as decorate those hum drum cave walls. Since then, the little heart- shaped symbol of love and ro mance has caught on in many ways, incorporating itself into our language, art and even in our candy — particularly dur ing February. Speaking from the heart, it seems St. Valentine’s Day is that | rosy time of the year when rslv c*ti« life » | i$ St-Uffc tVity c'ne h trltsc: tinth nifc- J > - ti nih yeti -. Dr«n>’"fir. Dre.w’rf'”- 1 * 5 , ec.ts* Photo by BILL HUGHES Everything on Valentine’s Day is shaped like hearts — including tradi tional and modern greeting cards. Valentine’s Day also is marked by love poems to sweethearts such as the one shown on this card. sweethearts may have heart-to- heart talks, set their hearts at rest, wear their hearts on their sleeve, eat their hearts out, have changes of heart, break each other’s heart, steal each other’s heart, lose their hearts, have their hearts in their mouths, have their hearts in the right place, love each other heart- and-soul, or even promise to love one another with all their heart. In addition to invading our language, the heart also has overtaken modern card art. You’re going to have to shop that’s de fer your your heart out if you want to ■Id at 7 :t Jom- bership in 701 : weroff iableat rn Lc-1 0.' 5e who l envood inter at s infer- i Lacy to modern: Cards are big hit during Valentine's find that rare card signed “heart-fully” special someone. Another favorite display of the heart shape is candy. A pop ular type of Valentine candy is conversation hearts — the chalky, pastel-colored, little candy hearts with unforgettably straightforward messages such as “Be Mine,” “Hubba Hubba!,” “Oh You Kid!’’and “I Wuv You.” There also are heart-shaped red hots, heart-shaped lollipops as big as your hand and made- to-order half-pound fudge hearts, in addition to the tradi tional heart-shaped boxes filled with assorted chocolates and creams. As with many holidays, the history of its event seems to be neglected amidst all the present shuffling and card mailing — and St. Valentine’s Day is no ex ception. Different authorities believe Valentine’s Day began in va rious ways. It’s been traced to an ancient Roman festival called Lupercalia, celebrated on Feb. 15. In this celebration, young men struck women with strips of animal hides because it was thought to purify the women and make them more fertile. History also mentions that two early Christian saints named Valentine could be re sponsible for the holiday’s namesake. According to one story, the Roman Emperor Claudius II in the A.D. 20()’s forbade young men to marry because he be lieved single men made better soldiers. A priest named Valen tine disobeyed the emperor’s orders by secretly marrying young couples and when the emperor found out, Valentine was caught and beheaded. Another story says Valentine was an early Christian who made friends with many chil dren. When he was imprisoned by the Romans for refusing to worship their gods, the children began to miss him and tossed loving notes between the bars of his cell window. And according to still an other story, Valentine restored the sight of his jailer’s blind daughter. Legend says that be fore he was to be executed, the saint sent his jailer’s daughter a farewell note, which he signed “from your Valentine.” Valentine’s namesake also may have come from an old French word, gallantine which sounds like Valentine and means gallant one or lover. This resemblance of sound may have caused people to think of St. Valentine as the special saint of lovers. Still other authorities link Valentine’s Day to an old En glish belief, according to a slightly different calendar, that birds chose their mates on Feb. 14. Another popular symbol of Valentine’s Day is the Roman god of love, Cupid. Roman mythology described Cupid as a a happy, handsome boy who united lovers whenever he could. The earliest pictures of Cu- E id show him as an good- >oking, athletic young man. But by the mid 300’s B.C., he was portrayed as a chubby, naked infant with wings who wielded a bow and arrow. The legend says that whoever is shot with one of Cupid’s arrows will fall in love with the first person he sees. Although Cupid seemed like a pretty nice cherub, his disposi tion wasn’t always so sunny. In fact, he was down right nasty to his own love, the princess Psy che. Tower Dining Room OPEN Sun.-Fri. 11:00 a.m.- 1:30 p.m. Underground Deli and Store OPEN Mon.-Fri. 7:30 a.m.- 3:30 p.m. Where You Get More For Your Money “Quality First" Biomedical Science Association i™ date FEB 14, 1984 Dr. W.E. Ward, Assoc. Dean, College of Medicine Medicine Today A Tomorrow Tour of Med School Facilities RM 160 MED SCIENCES BLDG nneen 0-lIJ isit wilt on with! n lie * ' horses. By PAM BARNES Reporter Since the 1400s people have been sending romantic mes sages on cards to their loved ones. The cards have changed since then from the traditional cards to the scratch and sniff and musical cards. The manager of Coach House Cards and Gifts says the modern cards are selling the I best this year. “We’ve sold a lot more con temporary cards,” Betsy Camp bell, Coach’s House manager, says. “The humorous cards have been real popular. Valen tine’s Day is our biggest card selling season.” She also says the relative cards, those for brothers, sis ters, mom and dad, also have of the Starship Hallmark store in Culpepper Plaza says their card sales have been great. oyles i been popular F aboutii Dorothy Thomas, a sales ie then clerk for East 29th Street Ware- aey ran nly out light in , butadff his i bouse, says this year’s cards are and ll more suggestive than last years. “They're just more daring than any I’ve seen before,” Thomas says. She says the hu morous, more contemporary s fine» cards also are selling well. Becky Rosencranz, manager “We’ve been selling Valen tine cards non-stop since the be ginning of last week,” Rosen cranz says. “Our card sales have tripled this week.” She says the cards for moth ers and fathers have been popu lar but there isn’t any one card that was selling better than an other. “We’ve also sold out of the musical cards,” Rosencranz said. Stephanie Earthman, assis tant manager for the Starship Hallmark Shop in Manor East Mall says the contemporary cards have gone the fastest. “We only have three musical cards left,” Earthman says. “The scratch and sniff cards have really gone over well with the younger kids. They also liked the stickers and chocolate valentines.” Earthman also noticed that girls were usually the ones who bought their Valentine’s Day cards early and the guys who were rushing in to buy them at the last minute. f(am RESTAURANT 4 % M- FINE CHINESE CUISINE LOVELY RELAXED ATMOSPHERE QUALITY DINING AFFORDABLE PRICES UIHG€ OR SMALL PARTIES AND BANQUETS WELCOMED Serving wine and beer 846-8345 Mon. - Sun. Mon. - Sat. 11 am - 2 pm 5 pm - 10 pm 3805 TEXAS AV. - BRYAN Don't let the BEST be left out It could be yours The TEXAS A&M POETRY CONTEST sponsored by Sigma Tau Delta VE. JB 2 gjeopli j Squan Static: =441E Shoot for the top! If you plan to graduate in May or August with a B.S.M.S. or Ph.D in an electrical, mechanical, aerospace, industrial or computer-science discipline, it's time to shoot for the top by building your career with a company that's going places. 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