Happy Valentine’s Day!

1. Happy Valentine’s Day! 2/14/18

2. Today’s Goals Focus Questions Where does Valentine’s Day come from? What are some of the traditions of Valentine’s Day? What aspects of RJ’s plot can I apply to Valentine’s Day traditions? How do I empathize with Characters? • Reflect on the origins of Valentine’s Day • Incorporate Valentine traditions w/ RJ

3. The Difference? Sympathy Empathy Understanding what others are feeling because you have experienced it yourself or can put yourself in their shoes. "I know it's not easy to lose weight because I have faced the same problems myself.“ Personal understanding • Acknowledging another person's emotional hardships and providing comfort and assurance. • "Trying to lose weight can often feel like an uphill battle.“ • Understanding the experience of others Your goal: to empathize with RJ Characters

4. Valentine’s Day- a little history • Valentine's Day is a time to celebrate romance and love and kissy-face fealty. • But the origins of this festival of candy and cupids are actually dark, bloody — and a bit muddled. • Though no one has pinpointed the exact origin of the holiday, one good place to start is ancient Rome, where men hit on women by, well, hitting them.

5. Those Wild And Crazy Romans RuhRoh! • From Feb. 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia. The men sacrificed a goat and a dog, then whipped women with the hides of the animals they had just slain. • The Roman romantics "were drunk. They were naked," says Noel Lenski, a historian at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Young women would actually line up for the men to hit them, Lenski says. They believed this would make them fertile. • The brutality included a matchmaking lottery, in which young men drew the names of women from a jar. The couple would then be, um, coupled up for the duration of the festival — or longer, if the match was right.

6. St. Valentine’s Day, Lupercalia, and Galatin’s Day • The ancient Romans may also be responsible for the name of our modern day of love. Emperor Claudius II executed two men — both named Valentine — on Feb. 14 of different years in the 3rd century A.D. Their martyrdom was honored by the Catholic Church with the celebration of St. Valentine's Day. • Later, Pope Gelasius I muddled things in the 5th century by combining St. Valentine's Day with Lupercalia to expel the pagan rituals. But the festival was more of a theatrical interpretation of what it had once been. • Lenski adds, "It was a little more of a drunken revel, but the Christians put clothes back on it. That didn't stop it from being a day of fertility and love.“ • Around the same time, the Normans celebrated Galatin's Day. Galatin meant "lover of women." That was likely confused with St. Valentine's Day at some point, in part because they sound alike.

7. Shakespeare In Love • As the years went on, the holiday grew sweeter. Chaucer and Shakespeare romanticized it in their work, and it gained popularity throughout Britain and the rest of Europe. • Handmade paper cards became the tokens-du-jour in the Middle Ages. • Eventually, the tradition made its way to the New World. The industrial revolution ushered in factory-made cards in the 19th century. • And in 1913, Hallmark Cards of Kansas City, Mo., began mass producing valentines. • February has not been the same since.

8. February 14th, Today • Today, the holiday is big business: According to market research firm IBIS World, Valentine's Day sales reached $17.6 billion last year; this year's sales are expected to total $18.6 billion. • But that commercialization has spoiled the day for many. Helen Fisher, a sociologist at Rutgers University, says we have only ourselves to blame. • "This isn't a command performance," she says. "If people didn't want to buy Hallmark cards, they would not be bought, and Hallmark would go out of business." • And so the celebration of Valentine's Day goes on, in varied ways.

9. February 14th, Today • Many will break the bank buying jewelry, flowers, and oversized stuffed animals for their beloveds. • Some will pass candy-grams and secret notes in each others lockers. • Others will celebrate in a SAD (that's Single Awareness Day) way, dining alone and binging on self-gifted chocolates. • But whichever way you choose, know that Valentine’s day shouldn’t be the only day you express your gratitude and love for the ones around you. • And always know, you are loved, even if those around you are too afraid, too proud, or too indifferent to tell you. YOU MATTER. YOU ARE LOVED.

10. Goal 2- Incorporate Valentine traditions with RJ • Rationale: Our Shakespeare’s plays have a lot to say about love. Exploring how, why, and what determines who we love is important. By digging deeper into our character’s psyche and motivation, we will be learning more about Shakespeare’s thoughts on love as well as continue to develop our own. Assignment: A valentine to be sent Romeo or Juliet to each other. Try to emulate the language, personality, and motivation of the character, as well as capture the social conventions portrayed between your romantic couple in history. Do be creative

11. Requirements: • You must address your valentine to one specific character from your Shakespeare play to another character in the play (and make sense). • Your valentine should be illustrated and contain color. • Your valentine should include at least 8 lines of writing and should sound like Shakespeare and/or match the societal standards. • Your wording should contain some sound elements—like repetition, alliteration, and rhyme. Be romantic (it’s okay if it’s over the top!) • Be sure that it includes clear elements from the play’s plot to demonstrate your understanding of character relationships. • Options: Romeo to Juliet, Juliet to Romeo, or Paris to Juliet. • Any size—8.5 x 11 or larger (may fold in half to create a “card” but be sure that it is complete). • Extra Credit if you write 14 line and try for a sonnet!

12. Due at end of class In short: • You are making a Valentine card from Romeo to Juliet • Or from Juliet to Romeo • It should contain “poetic” elements • Remember- Romeo is a little more unrealistic (love helped me fly over the wall!) • Juliet is more serious (This is too fast, if you love me, then marry me) • Or from Paris to Juliet (Wanting to marry her) • Be sure it is true to the characters and their emotions. • Aka, embody the character. If you became that character, what would you have to do/say because you are THAT character?

13. Due at end of class Warning • Be sure your Valentine is school appropriate. • Any offensive or obscene words or images will result in a 0, and potentially phone call home and/or office referral. • Keep it clean, keep it fun. • If you have something silly on the front, be sure you have something on the inside that demonstrates the relationship between the characters, and not just an assumed relationship • Aka be sure it relates to the text

14. Sources • NPR- https://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133693152/the-dark-origins-of-valentines-day