by Madelle Morgan
The title is a beautiful quote from Richard Bach. Even if sweet love sours and we move on to new partners, I believe that the experience of loving someone expands our hearts' ability to love and appreciate love.
Why Chocolate?
The tradition of giving a sweetheart chocolate on Valentine's Day originated with Richard Cadbury in the 1840s.
In 1861, Richard Cadbury created the first ever heart-shaped box for Valentine's Day. The chemical phenylethylamine in chocolate (stimulates) feelings of excitement, attraction, and even pleasure. (Source: The Happy Chocolatier)
Why February 14th?
I gleaned these facts from History.com:
The Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to "Christianize" the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity but was outlawed at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day.
The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred.
During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds' mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of February should be a day for romance. - Hey, we should be eating egg-shaped chocolates for Valentine's Day instead of at Easter!
The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
Many proposals occur on the most romantic day of the year, as do winter weddings.
Hmmm.... Do you think men might have an ulterior motive for choosing February 14 for their wedding day?
Here's an excerpt from my romantic comedy Caught on Camera that eavesdrops on the groomsmen's conversation as they wait for the bride to appear.
Halden and the groomsmen wore dark formal tailcoats, striped gray trousers, white shirts, and lavender cravats and waistcoats.
At intervals during the interminable delay, they bemoaned the wedding planner’s order for traditional English attire. Who knew it’d be as hot as hell in June in the Great White North? Apparently not the wedding planner or Candy. Or more likely they didn’t care. To them, it was all about appearances.
“She’s twenty minutes late.” Garth inserted one finger inside his collar and tugged at the garment constricting his neck. “If I ever get married, it’ll be in January.”
“Make it February fourteenth,” Mickey muttered out the side of his mouth. “Then you’ll never forget your wedding anniversary.”
“Good tip. You always think ahead, Mick.” Garth fist-bumped him behind Wade’s back.
Did you receive a proposal or get married on Valentine's Day?
Madelle
She tweets and posts on the topics of writing & publishing, filmmaking, dogs, and the settings for her stories.
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3 comments:
Great post, Madelle. I didn't know about the bird mating season thing--kind of sweet! :-)
Thanks for sharing some history about this date, Madelle. I also didn't know about the beginning of bird mating season. Here in the NW of the US I think it is also the beginning of squirrel mating season! Also didn't realize that Valentine's Day was a Christian holiday at one time but it doesn't surprise me about Lupercalia. I'm posting here on March 3 about Ostara and Easter.
Great post. I *did* get a marriage proposal on a Valentine's Day (although we'd already talked about getting married). We went to the beach very early on a rather windy but bright day, and hubs drew a heart on the wet sand with 'will you marry me?' in the middle.
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