Welcome to Mayesa’s BlogValentine's Day – Love, Hearts, and Healthy ChocolateDecember 13, 2013 Oh, if it be to choose and call thee mine, Love, thou art every day my Valentine! -Thomas Hood There’s nothing like a great love poem, and as we all know, love is even sweeter when expressed with chocolate! Especially on Valentine’s Day! Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14th all around the world, and is the second most celebrated holiday after New Year’s Day. In many countries it is actually a religious feast day honoring Saint Valentine. The day was first associated with romantic love in the Middle Ages when literary men such as Chaucer promoted the idea of “courtly love” in their writings. By the 1500s both men and women were celebrating their love on Saint Valentine’s Feast Day by exchanging gifts which they called “Valentines.” Handmade cards began to be exchanged by the next century, and continued as the norm until the mid 1800s when Valentine’s Day cards became massed produced, which also allowed the tradition of Valentine’s Day cards to become popular throughout the world. Although beginning as a Christian holiday, today Valentine’s Day is heartily celebrated in many non-Christian countries. And in many of them the tradition continues for the man to present a box of chocolates to the woman. However, in Japan it is the tradition for the woman to give a Valentine’s Day gift to the man of a homemade chocolate confection of some kind. In almost all instances the chocolates are either presented in a heart-shaped box, or are created in the shape of a heart. And now science is telling us every day that dark chocolate – is actually “heart-healthy!” So it looks like you you’ll be on the right track with a Valentine’s Day gift of heart-healthy chocolate! Tuck some cartons of Mayesa in among the bouquet of flowers and give some delicious chocolate on this special holiday of love! |