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A
heart (red or pink)
with an arrow
piercing through it is
the most common shape
and look for a
Valentines, and even
candles, candies,
cookies, cakes,
figurines, stuffed
images, etc. It's not
clear when the valentine
heart shape became the
symbol for the heart.
Some scholars speculate
that in the 12th
century, physicians
believed that the heart
was the seat of love and
affection in the human
body and shape came from
early attempts by people
to draw an organ they'd
never seen.
Some
people are guessing that
the Valentine
heart-shape as we know
it today was done by a
doodler to represent the
human female buttocks or
a female torso with
well-endowed breasts or
the imprint of lips
(wearing lipstick) made
upon a piece of paper.
In
China, the heart is
related to thought,
life, and emotions. It
brings together
everything from
understanding and
recognition to the flow
of emotions. The Romans
thought the heart
contained the soul.
Before them, ancient
Egyptians believed the
heart to be the center
of emotions - and
intellect. And before
them all... pictures on
cave walls depicted
animals with red hearts
in the center of their
bodies - evidence that
even cave dwellers
understood the heart's
significance.
It's,
once again, it's all how
you want to spin the
story! But any way it's
not difficult to figure
out the connection
between the heart
and Valentine's Day. The
heart, after all, was
thought in ancient times
to be the source of all
emotions. It later came
to be associated only
with the emotion of
love.
The
heart is a symbol both
of love and also
vulnerability. When you
send someone a
Valentine, you take a
risk of being rejected
and your feelings hurt.
So a piercing arrow
is a symbol of death and
the vulnerability of
love. On the other hand,
the heart and arrow also
symbolize the merging of
the male and female as
one.
Wearing Your Heart
on Your Sleeve
This expression comes
from early 1800's where
young American and
British men wore slips
of paper pinned to their
sleeves with their
girlfriend's name
written on. They did
this for several days
and so it started the
expression "wearing
one's heart on one's
sleeve." As well In the
middle Ages, young men
and women drew names
from a bowl to see who
their valentines would
be. They would wear
these names on their
sleeves for one week. To
wear your heart on your
sleeve now means that it
is easy for other people
to know how you are
feeling.
-
The heart sign
is as old as
 ,
 ,
 ,
 ,
 ,
and
 .
Its meaning for the
people living in
Europe before the
last Ice Age of
course is not known,
but since these
Cro-Magnons were
hunters one can be
reasonably sure it
meant that life
sustaining organ
pumping around the
blood of the
organism every
second of its
lifetime.
Graphically
is related to
 ,
the sign for fire
and for
flight in the
Middle Ages, and one
of the most common
signs in Western
ideography. It is
also related to
 ,
Aries, its
graphic counterpart
among the open sign
structures, and to
 ,
for union or
togetherness.
It is probable
that
began as
 ,
a pictorial sign for
the heart of
a man or an animal.
Nowadays, at least
in Sweden,
is associated with
the behind
and defecation,
as it is an old sign
for a toilet
for both sexes.
more
HEARTS & SIGNS >>
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