It’s Valentine’s Day, and along with flowers and chocolates, birds of various species flutter charmingly across many Valentine cards. Birds have long been associated with love.
During the Middle Ages, people in parts of Europe believed that birds began their courtship and breeding season on February 14. Geoffrey Chaucer immortalized this sentiment in “The Parliament of Fowls” when he wrote “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.” (Forgive the spelling. This was written between 1372 and 1386, after all.)
One bird frequently depicted on Valentine’s Day cards is the barn swallow. Swallows, which are migratory, have long served as harbingers of spring–they return to their breeding grounds just as this season of renewal unfolds. The ancient Greeks linked swallows with Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Swallows have also been credited with bearing departed souls on their slender wings. And their long-distance flights, agility, and swiftness make them the perfect messengers for carrying tokens of affection to loved ones.
Since an adult swallow barely outweighs a first-class letter, I chose not to send any Valentines by barn-swallow post, so I’ll just wish you a happy Valentine’s Day here. And tomorrow, February 15, marks a one-month countdown to the publication of my book about barn swallows, Swallows Swirl (illustrated by Jess Mason and published by Sleeping Bear Press). I’m quite thrilled about that!
Christina Wilsdon 