Valentine’s Day

Sweets for My Sweet by Jo-Ann Roberts

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The after-Christmas sales had barely started when store clerks filled the shelves with conversation hearts, truffles galore, and heart-shaped boxes of chocolates—symbols of the next worldwide holiday: Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day is actually named for two different Roman saints, both called Valentine and both unconnected to romantic love. Though legend persists the original St. Valentine was a priest who performed illegal marriages for the emperor’s soldiers, there is no evidence to suggest this ever happened. The first mention of St. Valentine’s Day as a romantic holiday appeared in writing in 1382. In medieval times, knights would give roses to their maidens and celebrate their beauty in songs.

But sugar was still a precious commodity in Europe, so there was no talk of exchanging candy gifts.

Fast forward five hundred years. By the 1840s, the notion of Valentine’s Day as a holiday to celebrate romantic love had taken over most of the English-speaking world. The Victorians adored the notion of chase courtly love and showered each other with elaborate cards and gifts.

The First Valentine’s Day Box of Chocolates

Into this love-crazed fray came Richard Cadbury, son of a British chocolate manufacturing family who was responsible for sales at a crucial point in his company’s history. He had recently improved its chocolate-making process by extracting pure cocoa butter from whole beans, thus producing a more palatable drinking chocolate than most Britons had ever tasted. This resulted in an overabundance of cocoa butter which he called “eating chocolate.” Quickly, Cadbury recognized a great marketing opportunity for the new chocolates and began selling them in beautifully decorated boxes that he designed.

From that point, it was a quick jump to taking the familiar images of cupids and roses and putting them on heart-shaped boxes. While Cadbury didn’t actually patent the heart-shaped box, it is widely believed that he was the first to produce one. His boxes had a dual purpose. When the chocolates had all been eaten, the pretty boxes could be used to store mementos, from locks of hair to love letters. The boxes grew increasingly elaborate until the outbreak of World War II when sugar was rationed, and Valentine’s Day celebrations were scaled back. But Victorian-era Cadbury boxes still exist, and many are treasured family heirlooms or valuable items prized by collectors.

Conversation Hearts

The story of conversation hearts, also known as Sweethearts, began in 1847, when a Boston pharmacist named Oliver Chase longed for a way to get in on the apothecary lozenge craze. Lozenges were quickly gaining steam as the medicine conveyance of choice and were also popular remedies for sore throats and bad breath. But making them was complicated and time-consuming—the process involved a mortar and pestle, kneading dough, rolling it out, and cutting it into discs that would eventually become lozenges.

There had to be a better way, and Oliver came up with it. Inspired by the new wave of gadgets and tools that hit America as it industrialized, he invented a machine that rolled lozenge dough and pressed wafers into perfect discs. Oliver had inadvertently created America’s first candy-making machine, and before long, he had abandoned his pharmacy business to crank out miles of what would become New England Confectionery Company (NECCO) wafers.

Legend has it that Oliver’s NECCO wafers were carried by Civil War soldiers, and some speculate that the tradition of sending loving greetings to the troops morphed into the conversation heart, but those claims are difficult to verify. What is clear is that as Oliver built his candy empire, his brother Daniel decided he wanted a piece of the action.

Inspired by the growing market for Valentine’s cards (which were popularized in the United States by Esther Howland, also a resident of Boston at the time), Daniel wondered if it would be possible to print sentimental messages on candy. In 1866, he figured out a way to print words on candy with vegetable dye during the cutting process.

People loved conversation candies (they weren’t available in heart shapes until 1902) and their witty messages, which could stoke the flames of love or warn off flaky suitors. Daniel’s candies were bigger than today’s version and had phrases like “MARRIED IN WHITE YOU HAVE CHOSEN RIGHT” and “HOW LONG SHALL I HAVE TO WAIT? PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE” emblazoned on a pastel, scalloped wafer.

By the turn of the century, the conversation heart was a Valentine’s cliché. Here’s how they were used at a Boston party in 1911:

“Partners for the evening were found by means of candy “motto” hearts. These were broken in two, and each young lady was given a piece, but the men were obliged to hunt for theirs. As they were carefully hidden, this took some length of time and proved an excellent ‘ice breaker.’ The silly mottoes were read with laughter as the couples chose their tables.”

Over the years, conversation hearts lost size but gained many more phrases. In 2016, NECCO estimated it made 8 billion conversation hearts a year. Now, the Spangler Candy Company produces the cheeky confections.

Hershey’s Kisses

First introduced in 1907, it is not known exactly how the kisses got their name. But one theory suggests they were named for the kissing sound the chocolate made while being deposited on the manufacturing line. It wasn’t until 1962 that Hershey Kisses were first wrapped in red and green foil to celebrate Christmas. Today, to celebrate Valentine’s Day, kisses are wrapped in red foil.

What is your favorite Valentine’s Day candy?

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Valentine’s Day Reflections

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Some days I swear I can’t be as old as I am (and no, I’m not sharing that detail). Other days, I feel old. Not so much physically but in the slap-me-upside-the-head-with-a-reminder way. When my children’s babysitters started having children, that was a rude age awakening. (Now some of their children are going college!) This year as Valentine’s Day approaches, I’ve had another odd age related realization.

I remember what a big deal that day was in elementary school. Would my latest crush, Chris or Lester, give me a Valentine. Yes, I’m old enough that we didn’t have to give valentines to everyone in class. In college, I wondered what to do on that day because goodness, no one wanted to be sitting home. And of course, when I was dating, Valentine’s Day was a big deal. Do I give a gift or simply a card? If I go with the gift, what and how much do I spend? Such angst. When I had young children, Valentine’s Day was a great excuse to get a babysitter, go to a restaurant, and have couple time.

This year as a woman married forty-two years, the holiday isn’t as big a deal in the romantic love sense. Hubby and I will have a quiet night at home. We’ll get takeout, but don’t want to deal with getting a reservation and fighting packed restaurants. After dinner, we’ll watch a movie. Now I see the day as a reminder to tell those I care about how much they mean to me, including my exceptionally patient husband.

I want to make a point to thank all of you for being a part of my life. The first Wednesday of the month, you take time out of your busy day to chat with me. You share the ups and downs of this crazy writing life and have helped with my stories in more ways than I can count.

Since candy/sweets is the most popular Valentine’s gift, and I assume most of that is chocolate, I as my Valentine’s Day gift, I’m sharing my grandmother’s Chocolate Drop cookie recipe with you.

 

Chocolate Drop Cookies

1/2 C butter

1 C sugar

1 egg

1 tsp baking powder

1 3/4 C flour

1/2 C milk

4 Tbs Cocoa powder

1/2 C nuts (optional)

In a bowl, mix dry ingredients. In a different bowl, cream sugar and butter. Add egg and milk. Beat well. Add dry ingredients and combine. Drop a small dollop on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for # minutes. Insert a toothpick to test for doneness. Cookies will have a cake like texture.

Frosting

1 C powdered sugar

1 Tbs cocoa powder

2-3 Tbs butter softened

2-3 Tbs milk

Beat until creamy and smooth. Frost cookies when cool.

These cookies and chocolate covered strawberries are my favorite Valentine’s Day treats? What’s yours? Let me know.

Valentine’s Day in the Old West

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Goodness, it’s February already! And that means Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. So, whether you love or loathe it, there’s no doubt it’s one of the most widely celebrated holidays in the world.

But how did we arrived at a holiday in the dead of winter, and symbolized by a chubby baby wearing a diaper carrying a bow and arrow, that will bring in revenue over $14.2 billion this year?

History

Valentine’s Day, also called St. Valentine’s Day or the Feast of St. Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14th. It originated as a Western Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named St. Valentine and is recognized as a significant cultural, religious, and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world.

Formal messages or valentines, appeared in the 1500s, and by the late 1700s commercially printed cards were being used. The first commercial valentines in the United States were printed in the mid-1800s. Valentines commonly depict Cupid, the Roman god of love, along with hearts, traditionally the seat of emotion. Because it was thought that the bird mating season begins in mid-February, birds also became a symbol of the day.

Up until the end of the Civil War, men might shower their special lady with a card to express his sentiments.

A “window” valentine ca. 1864.

This card was called a “window valentine” because front flaps opened to reveal a hidden message or image.

Or if a fella was well-to-do, he would purchase “eating chocolates” for his sweetheart. Produced by Richard Cadbury, these chocolates were sold in beautifully decorated boxes that could be used again and again to store mementos, from locks of hair to love letters.

           

The Old West and Valentine’s Day

Once the war was over, many soldiers left the war-torn East for a new life in the West. So, if a man was lucky enough to have a wife or sweetheart in the far reaches of the frontier, what was available to him?

In lieu of tangible gifts, the suitor might present his lady with something of himself. A carefully handwritten love letter in his best penmanship was a gift many a lady would highly cherish.

 

Carving out a life in the West, many men acquired skills which came in handy when crafting a gift for his intended. Whether it was a hand-tooled leather sewing box, a wooden blanket chest, or a poem of his own creation, men in the West were determined to show their affection on Valentine’s Day by manufacturing something hewed by his own hands.

 

By the last decade of the 1800s, access to a mail-order catalog (Sears & Roebucks, Montgomery Ward, and Eaton’s in Canada) offered jewelry, hat pins, parasols, and rings to the man who had hard cash and the desire to impress his lady.

Today, as in the past, Valentine’s Day celebrations are as varied as the people planning them. However, in 1873, this advertisement in the Matrimonial Times actually occurred in San Francisco.

            “Any gal that got a bed, calico dress, coffee pot and skillet, knows how to cut out britches and can make a hunting shirt, knows how to take care of children can have my services till death do us part.”

What women could resist an invitation so eloquently stated?!!!

Turning the clock back to the late 1950’s – early 1960’s…

I have such wonderful, vivid memories of Valentine’s Day in elementary school. A week before Valentine’s Day, every student would bring in a shoe box. During art class, we would decorate our boxes with crepe paper, hearts cut from red and pink construction paper, and paper lace doilies, making sure there was a large slit in the cover for all the Valentine cards we were sure to get. Ironically, most of the cards had a western cowboy/cowgirl theme! Do these look familiar to anyone?

      

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, share your comments about a favorite Valentine’s Day memory from your school days.

 

 

 

The Legacy of John Trudell and a Special Valentine E-Book Give-away

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Howdy!

Welcome, welcome to Valentine’s Day Tuesday! Just to remind you, today I’ll be giving away eight (8) different e-books to eight (8) different bloggers.

This give-away was announced earlier this month, and here’s the post:

Valentine’s Day Give-Away.  Come to my blog (Karen Kay) February 14th, and enter the drawing for a chance to win one of these e-books.  Eight e-books (one each from the books listed here) will be given away on my blog on that date, February 14th.

Hope to see you there!

 

 

 

 

 

Be sure to read over our Give-away Guidelines to the right of this page and check out our rules and then, in order to be a part of the drawing all you have to do is comment on this post and you are automatically entered into the drawing.

Onward…

Tomorrow is the birthday of John Trudell.  And, in case you are not familiar with his work, John Trudell was a Lakota broadcaster in the early 1970’s.  He was a member of the American Indian Movement in the 1970’s and was their spokesperson.  After the tragic loss of his wife, his mother-in-law and all of his children, who perished in a fire while John was away, John took several years to mourn their loss and it was at this time he began to write poetry.  John went on to write some of the most beautiful poems I’ve read.  He also became a philosopher and toured and spoke to many groups of people about his ideas of life.  Around this time, one of his friends approached him and said he could set his poems to music.  John then went on to record his poems which were then set to American Indian music, as well as Rock ‘n Roll.

He was involved in many different protests during these years and was also in the film, Dreamkeeper.  (I believe he was the coyote in one of the legends told in the movie.)  He was also in the film, Thunderheart, a movie starring Val Kilmer.  There is also a documentary of his life available for purchase at Amazon, entitled Trudell.

On this special Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d post a few beautiful lines John wrote to his wife in the poem, YOU WERE.  This poem was set to music and one can view it on YouTube here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3qarkF-bfI

“You were here, but not long enough.

“Pretty woman in my mind,

“that laughter in my soul,

“those memories in my heart…”

John Trudell

John is no longer with us, having passed in 2015.  But John’s poems, his views of life and his philosophy have brought inspiration and enlightenment to many people and I would like to honor his life in this blog today.

Well, that’s all for today.  Hope you’ve enjoyed the blog.  And, may I wish you all a wonderful Valentine’s Day.

 

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here. I hope you all are enjoying a very lovely Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day has always been somewhat special to me – my birthday falls on February 13 so I always conflate the two into one celebration. And I started the celebration with a gift to me – I wrapped up the book I was working on (Book 3 in my Amish of Hope’s Haven series) and was able to give myself a short breather before starting my next work – this one will be a fun western set historical romance!

Then, this past Friday me, my hubby and most of my kids and their families, 9 of us in total, went out to a  Cirque du Soleil performance. It was soooooo much fun!  And then yesterday, on my actual birthday, ALL the kids and their families came over and one of my sons-in-law cooked some meat on the grill for a great birthday lunch. My birthday cake was a yummy King cake, a tradition since my birthday always falls during Mardi Gras season. All in all a great birthday weekend.

But this post is supposed to be about Valentine’s Day, so I thought I’d bring you a quick list of Trivia, Fun Facts and Statistics around this romantic holiday.

 

  • Most everyone knows that Valentine’s Day is named for St. Valentine, but did you know there were actually two St. Valentine’s? Both lived during the third century
    One St. Valentine was a priest who helped Christians escape from Roman prisons. It is said he fell in love with a woman who visited him when he himself was thrown in prison and that he wrote her letters that he signed “From your Valentine.”
    The other was also a priest. This Valentine defied a Roman emperor who refused to allow his soldiers to marry because he believed it was too big a distraction. Valentine wed soldiers to their sweethearts in secret until he was eventually caught and executed.
  • The first Valentine’s celebration is thought to have taken place on February 14 in 1400. It happened in Paris when King Charles VI established the High Court of Love. Run entirely by women, this court with marriage contracts, infidelity, divorce and domestic abuse.

  • People have been sending Valentines for over 600 years. The first known record of a valentine is from 1415. It is from a poem written by the Duke of Orleans to his wife whom he refers to as his very gentle Valentine.
  • The first mass-produced Valentines cards came about in the 1840s. Before that Valentine’s Day missives were handwritten. Esther A. Howland, known as the Mother of the Valentine, is credited with commercializing Valentine’s Day cards in America.
  • The first heart shaped box of candy was created by Richard Cadbury and introduced in 1861

 

  • And speaking of candy, we can’t talk about Valentine’s Day without mentioning conversation hearts. They were actually invented by Oliver Chase, a Boston pharmacist. He actually invented machine to make the way medical lozenges could be made. But it wasn’t long before he began using his machine to make candy, a more lucrative field. He actually founded the New England Confectionery Company or NECCO which is where we get NECCO wafers from. Eventually, in 1866 to be more specific, Oliver’s brother Daniel started printing the sweet little messages on the candy. Today over 8 billion conversation hearts are printed each year, and the manufacturer works year round to have enough ready for the holiday. (they have a shelf life of about 5 years)
  • The tradition of giving flowers to your sweetheart for Valentine’s Day began in the Victorian era

 

Some interesting stats (as of 2018)

  • Approximately 180 million cards are exchanged on Valentine’s Day

 

  • Women buy about 85 percent of those cards (naturally!)
  • Men buy 73 percent of the Valentine’s Day flowers
  • According to the National Retail Foundation, American will spend more than 20 billion dollars on Valentine’s Day gifts. That number may not surprise you, but did you know that over 27 million Americans will give Valentine’s gifts to their pets.
  • More than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolates are sold each year.
  • Each box of conversation hearts has about 45 unique sayings.

 

So there’s my short and sweet take on Valentine’s Day trivia. Did any of this surprise you? Do you have any tidbits or fun facts of your own to share? Or perhaps a story of your favorite Valentine’s Day experience?
Leave a comment to be entered in a drawing for a book from my backlist as well as a little Valentine’s Day surprise – a  book lover heart.