Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is a holiday that celebrates love each year on February 14. In ancient pagan Rome, February 14 was the day before the begining of the Festival of Lupercalia which honored fertility. On that day, young women would write their names on pieces of paper which were placed in a jar. Each young man would pull out a paper from the jar and would be paired with the young lady on the paper during the entire festival. Pope Gelasius in 496 wanted to change the pagan Festival of Lupercalia into a Christian holiday. So he renamed February14 Valentine's day in memory of a Christian saint who was executed by the Romans. According to the legend, the Roman emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for a period of time so that it would not interfere with military service for the young Roman men whom he needed to fight in his army. Valentine was a priest who was executed for defying the emperor's law by secretly marrying young men and women. Chaucer revived the Valentine legend in a poem he wrote in 1391 honoring the marriage of the English King Richard II to his bride, Anne of Bohemia. Gift giving and card exchanging on Valentine's Day became popular in England in the 1700s. Esther Howland began the commercial production of Valentine cards in the United States in 1850. Since then Valentine cards have grown to one of the most important cards in the greeting card industry.

You can select a colorful focal heart beads for your Valentine at http://www.beadshaper.com/gallery

Periwinkle

Periwinkle is a color in the blue-violet range of the color spectrum. The name comes from the flower of the the periwinkle plant which originated in Europe. The periwinkle plant is an evergreen that grows close to the ground. It was listed in an ancient Roman book of herbs written in the 2nd Century A.D. The ancient Greeks thought it would stop diarrhea. In Medieval England it was thought to stop bleeding. It was at times used in garlands. In French tradition it represented friendship. In German tradition it represented immortality. Today it is just a beautiful color.
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The flowers in the attached bead photograph are periwinkle color. This handcrafted glass bead can be found in the Beadshaper web site at http://www.beadshaper.com/

Fish in Mythology

Fish can be found in the mythologies of various cultures all over the world. In the Mythology of the Celts and other Btitish Islanders, the salmon has been associated with wisdom. In ancient Greek Mythology there have been various fish-like creatures; hippocampos combines horse and fish; leocampos is a lion fish; taurocampos is a bull fish; aigicampos is a goat fish. In various pagan cultures the fish represented fertility. In Hindu culture, the fish represents creation (interesting in that science tells us that life began in the oceans). In Buddhist culture, the fish represents happiness and fidelity. In Japanese mythology, shachikoko is a carp with a dragon head, and namazu is a giant catfish that causes earthquakes. In Hawaiian and Fijian mythology, the shark god protects and guides sailors. In Maori mythology there is a large fish that gives birth to the stars.

Most of the Earth's surface is covered by water, and fish are an important source of food for humans. No wonder that so many varied cultures all over the world have woven the fish into their folklore.

The Beadshaper has a gallery devoted to glass beads in the form of sea creatures at http://www.beadshaper.com/gallery

History of Violet

The color violet is named for the flower of the same name. It is the color between red and purple.

The color violet has a place in the Hindu religion in that it is associated with one of the Chakras. In Chinese thought it represents the harmony of the universe. The ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes called Athens the violet city. The color violet was first mentioned in English literature in the 14th Century. Newton in the 17th Century found violet to be the color at the short end of the visible spectrum of light at about 380 nm.The color violet continues to be appreciated to this day as a beautiful color.

The flowers in the attached bead photograph are violet color. This handcrafted glass bead can be found in the Beadshaper web site at http://www.beadshaper.com/

History of Gift Giving

The custom of giving gifts goes back to prehistoric times. In the ancient world gifts were customarily given to kings and emperors by lesser nobles to show their loyalty. These gifts (also known as tributes) were often not voluntary. Gifts were often given to the gods in the form of sacrifices. Gift giving among people of equal stature was also done, but in those cases a reciprocal gift was considered appropriate. This might have been thebeginning of the concept of bartering which ultimately led to the inventions of money and trade. Gift giving became institutionalized in the festivals of the Romans and continued to the present time.......................................................................................................

You can find great gifts for any occasion at http://www.beadshaper.com/