This week: Valentine Trends through the Centuries Edited by: StephBee  
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I hope you enjoyed my 1 JAN 2020 newsletter. I took a look at romantic heroines. Hopefully you’ve been successful in your resolutions/goals. I went back to Weight Watchers. I can’t deny it’s hard work tracking EVERYTHING, but tracking works. I have weight loss so I know I have to keep it up. No pooping out in February!
This newsletter snuck up on me, but with Valentine’s around the corner, I thought I’d get back to basics regarding our favorite (or not so favorite) red heart holiday. I learned a few new things about the foundations of Valentines Day myself, too. I hope you take some inspiration from my “back to basics” approach to February’s romantic holiday.
I also realize that Valentines Day is not as important for some. Valentines Day can actually suck, or it’s frivolous, or it costs too much. I get it. I challenge you to get out and have fun anyway. Go see a movie. Treat yourself to dinner - or have your meal “Door Dashed,” or “Uber eated” to you. You do you, Boo and don’t let the day drag you down.
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Today, Valentines Day is a cultural/religious/commercial celebration of love and I’ll put about 95% of the emphasis on the commercial aspect of it. Up until 500 AD as Christianity and Catholism/Orthodoxy started to take on importance, the church had a desire to turn pagan holidays into religious ones, hence the pagan holidays like Lupercalia and stories of an early martyr, Valentine, grew. Then came the Dark ages. Religion became important as the Roman Empire fell away. Records are “sketchy” during the Dark Ages, and I can only speculate that the religious focus of the holiday became important. As the Dark Ages gave way to the Renaissance, you start to see the idea of courtly love, along with folk tales emerging around Valentines Day.
One of the more interesting folk tales comes out of Slovenia where St. Vaka Zdravko “brings keys of roots” for the plants and flowers to grow. St. Vaka Zdravko (Valentine) is thought to bring the spring and new growth, and in many Folktales, he’s a harbinger of spring which might have grown out the Lupercalia celebration.
It’s not until Chaucer’s “Parlement of Foules, (1382)” does Valentines day acquire a bit of romantic connotation. Parlement of Foules was written to honor Richard II’s engagement to Anne of Bohemia. Part of it goes:
”For this was on St. Valentines Day, when every bird cometh here to choose his mate.”
The earliest description of Valentines Day as an annual love celebration begins in 1400 with the “Charter of the Court Love.” It was during the French court of Charles VI and proved to a distraction from a nasty bout of the plague. Male guests would bring newly written songs to the court and female guests would judge the songs.
In 1415, the Battle of Agincourt found the French heir to the throne, Charles, Duke of Orleans a prisoner of the English. He would write letters/poetry in French to his wife while in captivity, and because of this, is credited as writing the first Valentines poem.
As the Renaissance grew, poetry, letters, and songs grew to represent the holiday. There was still a more religious emphasis on Valentines Day, though.
The modern beginnings and the commercialization of the day starts in the 1840’s. American Esther Howland began making handmade cards to replace letters, inspired by handmade English cards. In 1868 the British company, Cadbury, created fancy heart shaped boxes for their chocolates. Heartfelt missives soon gave way to cards, chocolates, and flowers. Today, Valentines Day is a commercial superstar. Last year 1.9 million was spent on flowers alone, and 933 million was spent on cards.
Valentine Day has very complex beginnings and has morphed into a commercial blitz from a somber religious holiday. Who knows what it will be like in another 100 years? Ultimately, I think at the end of the day, it’s about the heartfelt sentiment we express toward each other to the people in our lives that we care about them, and we value them.
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FEEDBACK FROM MY ROMANCE/LOVE NEWSLETTER DATED: 1 JAN 2020
Monty 
Yes you have giving advice for a long time and doing a fine job on this News Letter. Thank you for all the effort you have put into making in a worthwhile read. Have a great New Year.
You’re welcome!}
Max Griffin 🏳️🌈 
Steph, Great advice – and it applies to any romantic lead, regardless of gender or sexual orientation!!! Thanks for your insights as always. Max
Max, you are so right about that. I tend to present my material in a more traditional manner, but I don’t mean to exclude gender or sexual orientation. Romance is romance no matter our sexual orientation. This year I’d like to ‘put aside’ a Romance/Love issue and dedicate it to LGBTQ and Romance. I’m not sure where to start so if you can poke me in the right direction… 
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Romance/Love: January 29, 2020 Issue [#9985]
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