They are light-hearted missiles of love, often accompanied by illustrations.

This harmless custom of budding romance began many thousands of years ago and had its origins in the love life of birds.

In 1381 Chaucer in Parl Foules said “when every bryd commeth there to choose his mate”.

But the card was an ancient lottery for sweethearts and, most of all, the martyr’s death of a Christian bishop.

Long before the advent of Christianity, the middle of February was the season of Spring and birds started mating.

Roman mythology associated the name with the goddess Juno. She was the queen of heaven. She became the goddess of women and marriage,

Young girls wrote their names on slips of paper an these were placed in a barrel from which boys drew their luck. There were no blanks. The girl drawn by a young man became his sweetheart until the next annual draw

Christianity appropriated February 14 in its own calendar, linking it with the martyrdom of St Valentine.

Originally, Valentine was a Pagan priest of the third century. He was converted to Christianity and became a bishop.

Claudius decided to abolish the institution of marriage, on the grounds that marriage did not make good soldiers.

Valentine considered such a policy was against the spirit of God and of human nature.

He secretly married lovers. He was murdered on February 14, 269 AD.

The date coincided with the ancient feast of Juno and ever since has been celebrated as Saint Valentine’s Day,

But the church’s desire to end pagan practice did not end there.

They knew only too well that one cannot suppress man’s deepest urges, according to Rudolph Brasch.

The names of saints were substituted for girls. But it only existed for a short time. Then girls put their own names into the barrel and the name play started all over again.

But the girls were not satisfied with this and so February 14 was the date a card or set of verses was nearest the heart.

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