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Valentine's Day - 14th February Now Christmas is over, the Tax man paid, it's time to think once more of Romance.
Soon it will be
Valentines Day. Where did the link between Valentine and Chocolate come.
St. Valentine of Rome was said to
have been imprisoned for performing marriages for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians persecuted
by the Roman Empire. According to Legend he healed the daughter of his jailer and before his execution sent
her a letter signed Your Valentine.
The first mention of Valentine's Day was believed to have been by Chaucer in
1300's in his poem, although it was believed that the date he referre dto was May 3.
Knights
would give gifts of roses to their loved ones, although sugar was expensive and scarce, so confectionary was not yet given
as a gift.
Chocolate was brought back from America by Christopher Columbus who enjoyed it brought it back as a
tribute to Queen Isabella of Spain and its rumoured aphrodiciacal qualities soon spread. The Aztecs refered
to chocolate as the food of the gods and Aztec ruler, Montezuma thought it was an aphrodisiac (Modern science has since
linked the chemical phenylethylamine it contains to the feeling of attratration, pleasure and excitement).
It was in the Victorian era the notion of love and romance and the giving of gifts spiraled and in the 1800's Cadbury brothers
produced the first heart shaped box for chocolates, starting a new trend.
1 feb 14 @ 3:37 pm
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