<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>In a message dated 2/19/02 3:40:04 PM Eastern Standard Time, noramunro@yahoo.com writes:
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<BR><BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">NOT March, but MAY, Eogan. ;-)</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BR></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Sorry, mea culpa. ;-) A lot of my confusion stemmed from the fact that I seem to have immediately switched March and May in my head when I read this, so when Rosine posted about the one particular St. Valentine whose feast day was in May, I didn't see the connection -- I was looking for a March date! If I go senile in my old age, I don't think many people will be able to tell the difference. ;-)
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<BR>I would only point out that Chaucer's reference does not mention a specific date, other than St. Valentine's day, and while his description of the season would certainly indicate a later date, there is no hard evidence to prove that he meant May.
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<BR>According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, at least three different Valentines are mentioned in early martyrologies under February 14. They further say:
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<BR>"The popular customs associated with Saint Valentine's Day undoubtedly had their origin in a conventional belief generally received in England and France during the Middle Ages, that on 14 February, i.e. half way through the second month of the year, the birds began to pair. Thus in Chaucer's <I>Parliament of Foules</I> we read:
<BR><BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day
<BR>Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate. </BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BR>For this reason the day was looked upon as specially consecrated to lovers and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lovers' tokens. Both the French and English literatures of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries contain allusions to the practice.</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">"</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">
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<BR>So it would seem that there is some precedence for belief that Chaucer did have Feb 14 in mind when he penned those lines.
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<BR>Aye,
<BR>Eogan
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<BR>Tighearn Eoghan Og mac Labhrainn, CP, OPE
<BR>http://www.albanach.org
<BR>Sacred Stone Pursuivant
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<BR>"Checky Or & Vert, two lions combatant, tails knowed, in base a mouse couchant, all within an orle of roundels, Argent."</FONT></HTML>