St. Valentine, we hardly knew you. Considering there were
two different St. Valentines during the Roman era, no wonder there is confusion
about who he really was and why he became associated with love.
Geoffrey Chaucer was one of the first to recognize in
writing the connection between the Roman mystery man and romance. In his poem, Parliament of Foules, written in 1382, he
writes
For this was Saint Valentine’s Day
When every bird cometh there to choose his mate.
It’s not exactly greeting card material, but it is one of
the first written records of the day being associated with love.
After Chaucer waxed poetic about the day, others got in the
game, creating little poems and cards to give to their sweethearts. The oldest
surviving example is in the British Museum. It is a love poem from 1477 and you
can see and read about it here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/642175.stm
Later, in the 15th century, Charles, Duke of
Orleans would offer a little ditty to his wife and further cement the connection
between love and Valentine’s Day
I am already sick of
love,
My very gentle
Valentine
You can practically see Charles coming home from a hard day
of oppressing peasants with a box of chocolates tucked under his arm to give to
the little wife. However, the only chocolate available at the time was a bitter
version of hot chocolate introduced to Europe from South America by the
Conquistadors.
Romantic men all over the western world would have to wait another
three hundred years before the little heart-shaped boxes went on sale. In the mid-1800’s,
Richard Cadbury invented a way to mix chocolate and cocoa butter to make a
sweeter, more edible chocolate. To sell his new creation, he offered them in
fancy boxes and the Victorians snapped them up. Whether chocolate shops put
them out the day after Christmas is still open to historical debate.
Along with these new-fangled chocolates, Victorians exchanged
homemade Valentine’s Day cards. It wasn’t until an enterprising American woman,
Esther Howland came on the scene that mass produced cards became available. Esther
had started making cards by hand, but when demand for her designs outpaced her
production abilities, she began manufacturing them in bulk. Now, husbands all
across America and Britain could panic and rush to the store to buy a mass
produced sentiment to go along with their heart shaped boxes.
So, as you prepare for Thursday, give a little thought to those who paved the way, and have a very happy Valentine's Day.
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