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Notable Days and Festivals: Valentine

St. Valentine's Day (Feb. 14th) is sacred to the memory of Bishop Valentine, a Christian martyr beheaded at Rome on this day in the year 278. The custom among young people of sending poetical souvenirs to their sweethearts on the birthday of St. Valentine originated from the old notion that birds commenced to couple on this day: hence, a sweetheart chosen on the 14th of February anciently bore the name of a VALENTINE. Nowadays, alas! the paper VALENTINES are all that remain to remind us of the fact. St. Swithin's Day (July 15th) perpetuates the memory of St. Swithin, the preceptor of King Ethelwulf and Bishop of Winchester, who died July 2, 862. The vulgar belief that if it rains on this day it will continue to rain for forty successive days is attributed to the tradition that when, despite the saint's dying request to be buried in the churchyard, the clergy took steps to disinter his body in order to remove it within the cathedral, a heavy downpour of rain necessitated a postponement of Notable Days and Festivals. their efforts on thirty-nine successive days, whereupon, after the fortieth attempt, they determined to allow the saint to remain where he lay. St. David's Day (Mar. Ist) commemorates the victory won by the Welsh over the Saxons on the birthday of their Archbishop (born 490, died 554), in the year 540. It was in consequence of the Archbishop having ordered them on this occasion to place a leek in their caps, so as to distinguish one another from the invaders, that the Welsh afterwards adopted the leek as their national emblem in his honour. Comb's Mass, which in the north of Scotland, and Caithness more particularly, takes the place of our Whitsuntide, is the colloquial term for the Feast of St. Columba, Abbot of Iona (born 521, died 597).

Primrose Day (April 19th) is the anniversary of the death of Lord Beaconsfield (born 1804, died 1881). The abundant display of primroses on this day, particularly on the part of the members of the Primrose League, established in 1884 in his honour, originated in the Queen's primrose wreath sent to the funeral of the great statesman, thus inscribed" His favourite flower." The custom of displaying a sprig of oak on Royal Oak Day (May 29th) perpetuates the manner in which the Royalists welcomed the return to England of Charles II. on his birthday, May 29, 1651, in allusion to his concealment in the oak at Boscobel, after the Battle of Worcester, on the 3rd of September previous. Guy Fawkes' Day keeps alive the incident of the Gunpowder Plot, by the timely discovery of which, November 5, 1605, the wholesale destruction of King James's Parliament was averted.

The name of the chief conspirator was not Guy, but Guido Fawkes; his execution took place January 13, 1606.

Arbor Day is an expression scarcely understood in this country, except, perhaps, at Newcastle-upon- Tyne, where the Transatlantic ceremony of planting trees, shrubs, and flowers within the school precincts, was publicly performed for the first time by the Mayor, June 11, 1888. This annual observance prevails not only throughout the United States and Canada, but also in certain portions of British Columbia, where the trees have to be coaxed into growing. Forefathers' Day (Dec. 20th) is kept as a high holiday in New England, commemorative of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers at New Plymouth in the year 1620. Independence Day (July 4th), perpetuates the memory of the American Declaration of Independence, 1776; and Evacuation Day (Nov. 25th), the date of the evacuation of New York City by the British army, at the conclusion of the American War of Independence, 1783.

The Sunday in Mid-Lent when the Pope blesses the Golden Rose, and children and domestics out at service visit their mothers to feast upon MOTHERING CAKES, really owes its name of Mothering Sunday to the ancient custom of making offerings to "Mother Church" on the afternoon of this day. St. Grouse's Day is a popular nickname given to the 12th of August (Grouse Day), when grouse shooting commences; and St. Partridge's Day, to the Notable Days and Festivals.

Ist of September (Partridge Day), which opens the season for partridge shooting; while Sprat Day (Nov. 9th) is the first day for selling sprats in London. The expression Red Letter Day, signifying a past event generally referred to with pleasure, found its origin in the old almanacks, where the Festivals and Saints' Days were printed in red ink and the rest in black. This arrangement still obtains in Roman Catholic countries.

Holiday is a corruption of Holy Day, or a day originally set apart by the Roman Catholic Church for the celebration of some feast in commemoration of an important event, or in honour of a particular saint. The word Almanac, also written Almanack, is derived from the Arabic al manah, to count; whereas Calendar is a contraction of the Latin calendarium, an account-book.