Hearts and Flowers and Cupid, Oh My

Valentine's Day is a major event in the romance world, and wherever you find romance readers and authors, you're going to find all those standard symbols of the holiday that have also become symbols of the genre. Hearts. Flowers. Cupid. Chocolate.


Absolutely none of which seem to have any connection to a day supposedly devoted to a martyred Roman saint, yet St. Valentine's Day originally derives from the medieval liturgical calendar. Even worse, the Catholic historians don't know much about the first St. Valentine, (or the other 13 or so saints of the same name) other than that he was buried on Feb. 14 and marked as martyred. So why is he the patron of lovers?

Chaucer seems to be the one who put the pieces together. It's not that Valentine, or any of the miscellaneous saints named Valentine, were particularly involved with romantic love. (Awkward, it might have been, seeing as most of them were priests.) No, it's just the fact that mid-February was when things started happening in the natural world--or at least that of England and France. In Parliament of Foules, Chaucer wrote:

For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.

Ah, now, it begins to make sense. Valentine is just the lucky saint whose day coincides with the natural occurrence Disney's Bambi called "Twitterpated." Got it. Now about that symbolism...


Cupid or Eros, as the god of love, is a pretty obvious choice: he stands for romance, and all that mushy goodness. And, boy, some of the Renaissance and Regency images of Cupid and Psyche are SMOKING hot! (This one by Benjamin West is dated 1808.) Despite our modern ideas about the purity of our ancestors, Valentine's Day, historically at least, is about the more physical aspects of love, as well as the ever-after side.

So we've got Mr. Bad-Boy Cupid. Why hearts? (And why do we use a symbol for a heart that bears almost no resemblance to the real thing?) Why flowers, particularly roses? And what about chocolate...never mind, I get that one. Sweets for the sweet, and all that. And let's not forget that it's been considered an aphrodisiac from ancient times in South America.


The symbol we use for the heart is so familiar, we use it as an ideogram to replace the word love. In fact, it's been around at least since the middle ages. Some researchers claim it's a combination of early symbols for fire and togetherness. Others have a far more graphic idea--it does kind of look like the tip of a penis, or possibly a woman's backside. So we'll probably never know exactly where the symbol came from, but possibly from a very earthy expression of love--not the Platonic kind. Hmm. Valentine's day has a dark side, doesn't it? As far as using the heart to represent love, that idea is probably for the same reason we say things like "the heart of the matter." It was simply the most obvious vital organ in the body, the strongest muscle, and located at the core. Therefore, to the medieval mind, the heart, and not the brain symbolized the very essence of a living being. Not to mention, it pumps blood and blood is what allows all those naughty bits to plump up when we want them. It also beats a lot faster when we're aroused. See? More symbolic sex.

Well, how about flowers? Those are sweet, right? Sorry. Flowers, quite simply, epitomize spring and the renewal of life. So more biology here! All that pollination going on. It was our Victorian ancestors who imbued a variety of flowers with special meanings.  The following list and the rose images on this post are from a very cool site called Love of Roses. This orange one is nice and steamy.

• Red: Red is the symbol of love. To give red roses says "I love you still"
• White: Shows purity and innocence. They also represent humility, youthfulness and charm.
• Blue: Unobtainable, impossible love.
• Pink: To give pink roses shows grace, joy, and gratitude. Pale pink also has the meaning of fun attached to it.
• Orange: Desire and enthusiasm. These would be a great choice to give to someone if you want the relationship to develop further.
• Yellow: Joy and friendship - yellow roses don't specifically show love. They can also represent starting over,or a new beginning. Yellow tipped with red shows friendship falling in love.
• Brown: Earth or wood. They can also mean friendship or appreciation.
• Purple: Enchantment, mystery, or royalty.

The number of roses also matters. And so many other flowers have special meanings as well. Have some fun and give someone a bouquet that says something special!

Oh, and by the way, the whole innundate-your-loved ones with cards thing? NOT an invention of Hallmark. No, this one again, goes back at least to the Victorians. Some of the valentines created in that era are pretty amazing. A few of them are even a little risque.

So there you go. Some sexy Valentine's Trivia to tuck away and amaze your friends. And if you're in the mood for a little something steamy, don't forget to check out Valentine's Heart, one of my Holiday Heart series out now from Ellora's Cave. Just as my Valentine to you, I'm offering a free download of Val and Cora's story to one random commenter. Winner will be drawn some time Feb. 14. (Leave me a way to contact you, please!)

Happy Valentine's Day!