“Lenços dos Namorados” (Sweetheart Handkerchiefs) are handkerchiefs made of linen or cotton and embroidered with several romantic and love-related motifs: flowers, birds, hearts, verses from love poems. Sweetheart Handkerchiefs have their origin in the 17th century, when they were used among the Portuguese nobility as “marriage proposal handkerchiefs,” but later became popularized as a way to start dating someone. This piece of handcraft is part of typical clothing from the Minho province (in Northwestern Portugal) and used by young women of marrying age. These young women would embroider a handkerchief and give it to their sweetheart as a sign of their love just before he would leave on a sea journey, normally to Portugal’s former colonial provinces. The men would then wear the handkerchief in public to show everyone they were in a committed relationship"
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