Valentines day may have been named after St Valentine (or rather, one of at least two of them, no-one knows which one) or at least renamed after a St Valentine as an attempt to Christanize the pre-existing pagan fertility festival of Lupercalia, in which young men whipped the buttocks of young women in an attempt to improve their fertility (any excuse) but the original purpose of it was to mark the day at the end of the winter period where you would allow your pigeons to start mating.

Pigeons can, given the right conditions, reproduce all year, but the scarceness of food in the winter means their chicks are less likely to survive – not such a good idea if you’re living in a subsistence community such as England in the dark and middle ages, and relying on pretty much anything as a food supply. Apparently getting pigeons to start breeding around this time of year also means that, when their young start flying there are less hawks around. Oh, and, in more northern climes the increase in sunlight during February leads to a corresponding increase in gonadal activity in birds…

Ah, romance!

Anyway, as mentioned in a previous post (Springs – Weds 28th Jan) there’s definitely a lot more goings on in the bird world of late. I was reminded of this today when I walked past a tree so filled with pigeons I thought it was about to burst into bloom (either that or they’ve been watching Hitchcock movies through someone’s window).

Here are two lines from Chaucer’s ‘The Parliament of Fowls’ (written sometime around 1382). This is the A. S. Kline 2007 translation:

‘For this was on Saint Valentine’s day,
When every fowl comes there his mate to take’

And again in Chaucer’s original language:

‘For this was on Seynt Valentynes day,
Whan every foul cometh ther to chese his make’

I reckon that clinches it.

Watch out for my forthcoming Valentines special, with a top ten list of things to say to your beloved to entice him or her to go out for that special meal with you…