Happy Valentine’s Day!!! I hope you’ve been well
I wonder if Wolfer!Tom would even bother to celebrate it with Hermione. Was it even a popular holiday back then 🤔
A little search on history blogs tells me that not only did 1890s Californians celebrate Valentine’s Day, but this era greatly amped up the commercialized element of the holiday, with glitzy, ornate heart-shaped pop-out cards that cost as much as $50, which is more like $1,500 in today's money!
But love letters weren’t the only custom—the 1800s saw another Valentine’s trend that lasted all the way into the early 1900s: vinegar valentines. These were mean valentines that might have sometimes been a joke between friends, but often were downright cruel cards offering rejection in pointed, sometimes racist or sexist terms.
Wow, doesn't that one look familiar! One major theme in these is hating on women who are suffragettes. (Don't ever forget, the power that has kept women down for millennia gets really noisy when we lift our heads.)
This one is from Hermione to Tom.
I can see Wolfer Tom not only investing big bucks in a swanky valentine for Hermione, but also a few vinegar valentines for his frenemies in Bishop Creek.
Tom would probably send this one to Ron but make it look like Hermione sent it:
Thanks for inspiring that fun detour, I hope your valentines were much nicer than these!