VALENTINE’S DAY: Chocolate ‘Gingerbread’ Man Or Girl
 He’s just a hunk, a hunk of chocolate love (photo © Choclatique. |
For the Valentine whose heart desires two-and-one-half pounds of solid milk chocolate, the creative chocolatiers at Choclatique suggest Chocolate Man (in photo) or Chocolate Girl (she has long eyelashes and a hair bow).
There’s no gingerbread—just 100% chocolate (plus decorations). Each Chocolate Man and Girl is custom made and decorated to order. It can be inscribed with a name (include the information in the special notes section at checkout). Chocolate Man and Girl are 13″ tall, 10″ wide and 1/2″ thick, and are made of all-natural, premium chocolate. Get yours now: |
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THE HISTORY OF VALENTINE’S DAY This holiday for lovers has roots in an annual Roman celebration called Lupercalia, held on February 15th. Men stripped naked, grabbed goat- or dog-skin whips and spanked young maidens, with the goal of increasing their fertility. The pagan celebration remained wildly popular well into the fifth century C.E.—more than 150 years after Emperor Constantine had made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Church leaders were unable to put a stop to the celebration, so scholars contend that they converted it into a Christian festival with this story: The third century C.E. Roman Emperor Claudius II, seeking recruits for his army, forbade young men to marry before serving. In defiance, the priest Valentine performed marriages in secret (he also helped martyrs at the time of persecution, and when in prison converted guards and their families to Christianity). |
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He was executed by beheading on February 14, 270 and ultimately became Saint Valentine (his relics repose in the Church of Saint Praxedes in Rome). A feast day for St. Valentine was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 C.E., but was later deleted from the General Roman Calendar of Saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI (because not enough was known about Valentine). Valentine greetings for loved ones were popular as far back as the Middle Ages. According to Wikipedia: “The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.” Poems were written to one’s beloved; in the 19th century, they were replaced by mass-produced greeting cards. In 1850, Esther Howland, an American printer and artist, was among the first to publish and sell Valentine cards in the United States. In the early 1900s the Norcross card company became one of the first companies to manufacture Valentines. With the exception of Christmas, Americans exchange more cards on Valentine’s Day than any other time of year. In 1861, chocolate manufacturer Richard Cadbury created the first heart-shaped box of chocolate for Valentine’s Day; and commercialization took over. |
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