Yes, I know it was only yesterday that I said I was getting around to the healthy eating and fitness regime that most people are already two weeks into, but you know how it is, you can’t rush a good thing and I’m hardly known for being early for pretty much anything, and I’m easily sidetracked.
I start off with good intentions, make a plan and then often somewhere along the way get derailed. But this year I’m hoping that will happen less often as with the tenacious attitude I’ll be adopting, there’s a chance that this year I’ll be buying Valentines day chocolates earlier than my usual night before the big day.
Photo by Jesse Goll on Unsplash
But even I know that if I spend the next month looking forward to and drooling over the Valentines day chocolates that I might buy, or even the ones that I’d leave large hints for MOH about, then January would be even a duller and longer month than usual.
So instead I’m going to be wondering about the history of the day and I’m sharing 5 facts that you might or might not already know:
Valentines Day is linked back to not one, but two, early Roman saints, both named Valentine but the connection to romantic love came later.
The first Valentines Day was in 496, so quite a while ago, and is thought to have originated from a Roman festival, called Lupercalia held in the middle of February, and the official start of their springtime.
Its first link to a romance appeared in the ‘Parlement of Foules’ poem by Chaucer in 1382, which contains one of the earliest references as St Valentine’s Day as a special day for lovers.
In Queen Victoria’s reign exchanging small tokens of affection or handwritten notes became common for friends and lovers of all social classes, as did the Cupid-themed gifts and cards.
The first Valentines day heart-shaped box of chocolates was sold in England by Cadbury in 1868 and was known as the Fancy Box, which as you might have guessed was a huge success.
So know you now, fascinating hey? There’s so much more to our romantic box of chocolates than you first thought, I bet.
And in answer to my original question, is it too early to be thinking about this, I think not. I mean January is well known to be the longest month in the calendar, with at least 91 or so days, so we definitely need something to look forward to.
* This is a collaborative post, but all views and opinions are my own.