Newspaper Page Text
Campus Mirror
Published During the College Year by the Students of Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia
VOL. XIII FEBRUARY, 15, 1937 No. 5
I he Lover’s Festival
Dorothea Boston, ’39
The “lover’s festival,” which is known
to us as Saint \ alentine’s Day, was
once the Luperealia- a feast of serious
merry-making for medieval people.
During this festival, mates or lovers
were found and paired. This mating
was not only of a playful nature, hut
had genuine and lasting effects. These
simple folk used this festival as a means
of keeping alive the spirit of the lovers
of that day, and thus kept, for them
selves, the ettect we so often lose when
we celebrate this same day.
When we think of the name Saint
Valentine, we wonder about the saint
and his connection with this day set
aside tor mating. Few of us know the
story of Valentine, the Roman Priest
who defended the Christian martyrs and
was slain because of this defense. Ilis
death occurred at the very time of the
hilarious celebration of Luperealia, a
feast in which the priests of Lupercus
slew a goat and dog and ran about the
streets carrying the bloody thongs, strik
ing the palm of any woman who wished
for fertility. The church later sainted
Valentine and because the day of his
death and the feast of Luperealia were
identical, the name Saint Valentine has
been fixed on the feast of Luperealia.
The day, February 14, came to be known
as the day of festival for lovers and
their mating. We may see, then, that
we are making quite a different use of
the day.
(Continued on Page 8, Col. 1)
Negro History Week
In keeping with the national obser
vance of Negro History Week, speakers
at the Spelman College chapel services
for the week of February 8 chose vari
ous subjects treating some phases of
Negro life and history.
On Monday morning, February 8, Dr.
William Stanley Braithwaite, Professor
of American and English Literature at
Atlanta University, spoke on the sub
ject ‘‘A Sense of the Past.” Using as
an introduction the story of the Ameri
can who, when he decided to write a
history of England, went there and lived
in typical English surroundings for a
long time to get a feeling for the sub
ject which he wished to treat. Dr.
Braithwaite said that a real and accu
rate understanding and appreciation of
the Negro’s past is the only key which
will unlock for the historian and the
critic the sources which will give him
the proper vantage point from which
to make prophesies concerning the Ne
gro’s future or a fair evaluation of his
present conditions and activities. Liter
ature, according to Dr. Braithwaite,
more than any other one thing will give
one that sense of the Negro’s past; it
is as important to know what the Negro
‘‘aspired to be, and was not” as it is
to know what lie actually became.
On Wednesday morning, February 10,
Dr. Will Mercer Cook, head of the
French department at Atlanta Univer
sity, gave a highly colorful description
of the life and works of two entirely
different Negro personalities in French
history.
The first, Chevalier de Saint George,
was a man of high capabilities and tal
ent : lie became outstanding in popular
circles as ‘‘the best shot in Paris” and
“the Voltaire of horsemanship, duelling
and music,” the violin being his favorite
instrument. He toyed with opera writ
ing and served as captain of the guards.
All told, unbiased critics conclude that
here was a genius, versatile and well-
trained, but with an insatiable love of
popularity which prevented his develop
ment to his greatest capacity in any
one field.
Vincent Oge, the second type, was a
no less striking and brilliant figure, but
choosing the more serious problems to
solve, his was a different way of life.
Born in Saint Domingue and educated in
France proper, lie was keenly aware of
and sensitive to race prejudice in all its
(Continued oil Page 4, Col. 1)