Before the advent of St. Valentine’s Day cards, expressions of love in the Fenland villages came in sweet but rather unusual guises

Young men would make tokens of affection from local plants and flowers, tie them with a true-lovers’ knot and then give them to a sweetheart as a proposal of marriage – often without the exchange of a single word. Others might consult with a local wise woman and obtain love potions made with dragon’s blood… And, if such overtures were ignored, there were also rituals performed in the light of a full moon that could win a person  the attention they desire.

Many courtship practices have been forgotten or superseded by greetings cards and other modern contrivances, but you can learn about some of them in our special Valentine’s Day Exhibition, hosted in our Fens and Fenland Room

This exhibition is part of Tracing Traditions, a project funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund and delivered by the Museums Association