The history of Viana’s Valentine’s Handkerchiefs goes back to the 17^th century when women from lower class embroidered to try to reproduce the handkerchiefs that were common among upper class women.

At the beginning, the handkerchiefs were part of women’s clothing and had mainly a decorative purpose, with red and black being de predominant colours. However, these handkerchiefs had another role: they celebrated commitment!

The Valentine’s Handkerchiefs were embroidered in linen or cotton and the different colours (the typical colours from Minho) replaced the black and red when decorating. They had naive love courts and many spelling mistakes, given the lack of education at the time.

As the age of marriage approached, girls started to embroider the handkerchiefs. When finished, it was given to the boy they were in love with and, if he accepted and wore it around his neck, jacket or hat, the commitment was official.

However, if it happened the other way around and the boy was not interested, he would have to return the handkerchief. The same would happen if he accepted it, but later broke the commitment. In this case we would have to return the handkerchief to the girl as well as her personal objects (photographs, letters and so on…).

It is believed that the Wedding’s Handkerchiefs were later born from the Valentine’s Handkerchiefs. These are worn by the bride on her head or wrapped around the bouquet just like the pouches are worn around her waist.

The heritage of the Valentine’s Handkerchiefs, considered one of the tradition symbols from Minho, is now available at Portfolio stores located at Lisbon, Porto and Faro airports.

Have a look at the Portuguese handcraft pieces that are part of the Portuguese culture on our Handcraft page as well as the traditional products on the Culture page.