The rose is red, the violet’s blue,

Honey’s sweet and so are you.

Thou art my love and I am thine;

I drew thee to my Valentine:

So says the nursery rhyme in Gammer Gurton’s Garland of 1784.

Doubly inspired by the upcoming celebration of love on February 14th and the fact that today is National Hug Day, I’ve designed a classic bear who not only wears his metaphorical heart on his sleeve but wears a literal one on his tummy too! So here he is; Frederick the Huggy Bear.

Frederick has a twin brother called Edward. Don’t they just look so cute together!

It seems the whole thing that we would recognize as our modern day celebration really began in England in the 18th century when young men would write and present poetry to the objects of their affection. In 1797 the practice was popular enough to warrant a booklet called ‘The Young Man’s Valentine Writer’, containing all the necessary verses with which the more poetically challenged young men could impress the loves of their life. This was closely followed by ready made cards, most unromantically named ‘Mechanical Valentines’, complete with printed verses for those who weren’t even inclined to do an 18th century cut and paste from the aforementioned book. With vast improvements being made to the postal system and a considerable reduction of postal rates in the 19th century, mass produced cards were the height of fashion. This new found accessibility to the postal system also meant that Valentines cards could be sent anonymously too. In the late 1800’s it was now considered unlucky to sign a Valentine’s card. Made in large factories these early paper confectioneries were a riot of ribbon, lace and colorful cutouts. The tradition of the factory made greetings card is stronger than ever today.

The rose is red, the violet’s blue,

If a Mechanical Valentine’s not for you

There’s really no need to play by the book,

Just grab some yarn and your favorite hook.

Let them know how much you care

With their very own handmade Huggy Bear!

(I would like to proudly announce that the somewhat mediocre but nonetheless completely rhyming poem above was written entirely by myself, without the help of ‘The Young Man’s Valentine Writer’).