A Tale of Valentine's Day Past

Jeff–Saturday

 

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and I was so overwhelmed with book business that I neglected to engage in the usual and expected customs and traditions of the Day with those I love and hold near and dear.  Which includes each of you. 

 

So, in an effort to assure all of you that I'm still thinking of you in only the fondest of ways, I thought to post a gem of a Valentine's Day historical exploration that I first posted ten years ago. And to cap off the renewed post, I decided to reveal the cover to my 14th Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis mystery, coming April 1st, which in its title tells the tale of how its been work-wise for me this past week. Ah, the joys of the writing life... wouldn't give it up for the world...but will maintain my right to kvetch about it from time to time.   

 

 

 

This being a site hosted by crime writers, you might think I’m about to plunge into a discussion of the most famous bloody Valentine’s Day ever, February 14, 1929.  That’s when members of Al Capone’s South Side Gang—some dressed as cops—lined up seven men affiliated with Bugs Moran’s North Side Gang inside a garage and shot them dead as part of a war for control of organized crime in Prohibition-era Chicago. 

But you’d be wrong, for this piece is about hearts and flowers.  No, ye cynics, not bullets through the heart and flowers for a funeral, but those bouquets you give to your beloved on the 14^th of February—or risk consequences unmentionable in civilized society.

Yes, chocolates (a rumored aphrodisiac) and cards (did you know the first card was written in the form of a poem from a royal prisoner in the Tower of London to his wife?—even he knew forgetting was not an option) are also big Valentine’s Day favorites, too, but this is about flowers.

Charles, Duke of Orleans and first Valentine's Day card sender

But first a bit of history on how lovers became so obsessed with VD—hmm, any wonder why that acronym never caught on?

One legend says it began during a time of religious persecution in third century Rome, when Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for soldier-age young men.  Single men fought better, he thought. [Ed. Note: With great will power I resisted inserting a joke here.] 

A young priest thought that unfair, and kept performing marriages in secret.  When Claudius discovered the priest’s violation of his edict, the Emperor sentenced him to death.  While in prison, the priest befriended and healed his jailer’s blind daughter, and before being put to death—on February 14, 270—sent a letter to her signing it “From Your Valentine.”

Yep, Valentine was his name, and the legend goes on to say that in 496, after Valentine had been sainted, Pope Gelasius declared February 14^th as a day to honor his memory as the patron saint of happy marriages, engaged couples and young people.

That’s disputed though, for some claim the date corresponds to the Roman fertility celebration of Lupercalia held between February 13^th and 15^th, and others claim it relates more to the period on the ancient Athenian calendar dedicated to the marriage of Zeus and Hera.   You knew I’d work the Greeks in here somewhere.

Lupercalia by Beccafumi

But it’s undisputed that the romantic love connotation to Valentine’s Day began in the 14^th Century with this simple line by one rather influential writer:

 

Translation available via Glasgow

Still, it wasn’t until the early 1700s that flowers became a tradition on Valentine’s Day. That’s generally attributed to Charles II of Sweden’s introduction to Europe of the Persian custom of the “language of flowers.”  Each flower had its own meaning, a sort of secret code between the sender and recipient.

And with the rose symbolizing passion and love, it’s no wonder roses are the number one best seller every Valentine’s Day (257 million in the US in 2014).  But there are other flowers finding their way to Valentines, and for those of you wondering just what your beloved may have meant by those flowers that arrived at your doorstep today, here’s a list of meanings. http://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/aboutflowers/flower-meanings

Just don’t shoot the messenger.

By the way, Valentine’s Day isn’t a big deal in Greece.  No reason to be, Greece gave Eros to the world.  Now it’s only looking to get some love back in return.

Happy (belated) Valentine’s Day, Barbara, Karen, Jennifer, Gavi, and Rachel. Okay, Jon, Terry, and Azi, too. And of course to….

Happy [Belated] Valentine's Day, Oh Love of My Life

 

Happy Valentine's Day.

If you don't know to whom I'm addressing this post, I'm at least in the clear with you.  Or so I hope.  You see, today being Friday [when I'm writing this] means I'm in Seattle -- a big shout out to Ingrid Thoft who surprised me at my Third Place Books event last night. Or is it Chicago?  No, that's tomorrow [Saturday].  I'm so confused, which turns out to be my alibi for neglecting to send a card, much less flowers, to my Valentines on Wednesday when I was in Los Angeles [I think.]

Okay, enough with the grovelling. Now's the time to appease, by discussing the non-candy and flowers history of the Day.

 

 

Since this is a site hosted by crime writers, you might think I’m about to plunge into a discussion of the most famous bloody Valentine’s Day ever, February 14, 1929.  That’s when members of Al Capone’s South Side Gang—some dressed as cops—lined up seven men affiliated with Bugs Moran’s North Side Gang inside a garage and shot them dead as part of a war for control of organized crime in Prohibition-era Chicago. 

But you’d be wrong, for this piece is about hearts and flowers.  No, ye cynics, not bullets through the heart and flowers for a funeral, but those bouquets you give to your beloved on the 14^th of February—or risk consequences unmentionable in civilized society.

Yes, chocolates (a rumored aphrodisiac) and cards (did you know the first card was written in the form of a poem from a royal prisoner in the Tower of London to his wife?—even he knew forgetting was not an option) are also big Valentine’s Day favorites, too, but this is about flowers.

Charles, Duke of Orleans and first Valentine's Day card sender

But first a bit of history on how lovers became so obsessed with VD—hmm, any wonder why that acronym never caught on?

One legend says it began during a time of religious persecution in third century Rome, when Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for soldier-age young men.  Single men fought better, he thought. [Ed. Note: With great will power I resisted inserting a joke here.] 

A young priest thought that unfair, and kept performing marriages in secret.  When Claudius discovered the priest’s violation of his edict, the Emperor sentenced him to death.  While in prison, the priest befriended and healed his jailer’s blind daughter, and before being put to death—on February 14, 270—sent a letter to her signing it “From Your Valentine.”

Yep, Valentine was his name, and the legend goes on to say that in 496, after Valentine had been sainted, Pope Gelasius declared February 14^th as a day to honor his memory as the patron saint of happy marriages, engaged couples and young people.

That’s disputed though, for some claim the date corresponds to the Roman fertility celebration of Lupercalia held between February 13^th and 15^th, and others claim it relates more to the period on the ancient Athenian calendar dedicated to the marriage of Zeus and Hera.   You knew I’d work the Greeks in here somewhere.

Lupercalia by Beccafumi

But it’s undisputed that the romantic love connotation to Valentine’s Day began in the 14^th Century with this simple line by one rather influential writer:

 

Translation available via Glasgow

Still, it wasn’t until the early 1700s that flowers became a tradition on Valentine’s Day. That’s generally attributed to Charles II of Sweden’s introduction to Europe of the Persian custom of the “language of flowers.”  Each flower had its own meaning, a sort of secret code between the sender and recipient.

And with the rose symbolizing passion and love, it’s no wonder roses are the number one best seller every Valentine’s Day (257 million in the US in 2014).  But there are other flowers finding their way to Valentines, and for those of you wondering just what your beloved may have meant by those flowers that arrived at your doorstep Wednesday, here’s a list of meanings. http://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/aboutflowers/flower-meanings

Just don’t shoot the messenger.

By the way, Valentine’s Day isn’t a big deal in Greece.  No reason to be, Greece gave Eros to the world.  Now it’s only looking to get some love back in return.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Barbara, Karen, Jennifer, Gavi, and Rachel. Okay, Jon, Terry, and Azi, too. And of course to….

Jeff—Saturday

Jeff’s Upcoming In Person events:

Saturday, February 17, 2:00 p.m. CT
Hellenic American Women’s Council
Lincolnwood Public Library
Author Speaking and Signing
4000 Pratt Avenue
Lincolnwood, IL

Wednesday, February 21, 6:00 p.m. ET
Mysterious Bookshop
Author Speaking and Signing
New York, NY

Friday, February 23, 7:00 p.m. ET
Mystery Lovers Bookshop
Author Speaking and Signing
Pittsburgh, PA

Thursday, February 29, 7:00 p.m. PT
Vroman’s Bookstore
Author Speaking and Signing
Pasadena, CA

Saturday, March 9, 3:00 p.m. CT
Murder By The Book
Author Speaking and Signing
Houston, TX

 

Happy Valentine's (& Covid Changes Reflection) Day!

 Ovidia--every other Tuesday

We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day here--like if you eat crepes every day, eating them on February 2nd for Candlemas becomes less of a big deal. But there's no such thing as too much love or too many crepes, so--

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Thank you for being here and part of the world right now.

Today also marks the start of a big new stage for us here in Singapore. Yesterday was the end of our Covid emergency measures and we've finally stepped down to DORSCON (Disease Outbreak Response System Condition) Green after three years of living with Covid measures. 

And what a three years it's been! For us personally, the Covid years were marked by the loss of our two beloved dogs--Hermione died right at the start of the epidemic. She got up in the middle of the night, barked once (to wake us and say goodbye, we like to think) then lay down and died. Fortunately we discovered 'pet cremation' comes under 'essential services'. And Princess lasted, seeming happy enough though she couldn't see or hear, till last April. 

Last night, at an extended family gathering, we were talking about the other changes we've all been fortunate enough to live through.

Mostly the talk was about job difficulties (especially in areas like hospitality and construction) work overload (MDs and medical frontline workers) and the complications of studying and socialising (the younger people--making me feel really old). One of my nephews got married during the Covid lockdown and the young couple were allowed ten guests on either side, with everyone masked!

All this made me realise that we writers see things very differently from most. I'm lucky enough that I can work from home or wherever I am. And much as I love print books, I've come to depend on Kindle and Libby ebooks and Audible audiobooks for most of my daily reading.

I didn't miss socialising though I did miss going to bookstores and libraries. And I did get occasional non-masked visitors--

--just to keep things interesting!

But then writers do see things very differently from most, take last night's dinner (which I really enjoyed) for example:

Someone was late for the dinner (over an hour late, which was kind of unfortunate because he was the host who'd made all the arrangements and the booking at the posh Chinese restaurant) and the rest of the relations were understandably fidgety, along with the restaurant staff who kept trying to seat other guests at the second of the two tables that had been reserved.

We (partner & I) had arrived early because of not being sure about parking etc and had had delicious vegan ice cream sandwiches (from Kind Kones in the Paragon basement if anyone's interested--dairy free and soft oatmeal cookies for the 'sandwich' part) so we weren't starving as badly as the others and free to enjoy the situation.

And what was enjoyable was wondering, if our absent host was really lying murdered in the carpark under the new Tesla he'd been so pleased with but which now wouldn't start, which of our fellow dinner guests could have done him in and what would their motive(s) have been? 

Of course it wasn't just us dinner guests who were suspects... there was also the absent family member who'd just left by plane... had she really gone? Also the Tesla serviceman and the restaurant manager and the former owner of his african grey (because who knows what secrets the bird might have picked up)...

I'm not fond of posh Chinese multiple course meals, but I enjoyed my dinner, especially the sitting and waiting. And now I can't wait to write a Tesla and an African Grey into a story somewhere.

But though we've exited the acute phase of the Covid pandemic, the virus is still with us and will continue to evolve. Over one thousand seven hundred people here have died sooner than they might have otherwise. As we move on, let's not forget them.   

Be My (Japanese) Valentine

 -- Susan, every other Sunday

Whether you love it, hate it, or largely ignore it, February 14 is Valentine's Day, and--like just about every thing else--we do it a little bit differently in Japan. 

Desserts like this show up everywhere as Valentine's Day approaches

Valentine's Day became "a thing" in Japan in the 1950s--one of many post-war imports that has thrived in Japan's gifts-and-sweets-loving culture.  

As in the United States and elsewhere, the "holiday" was promoted primarily by confectioners, who hoped to use the love-themed observance to gain a post-larger-holiday sales boost. However, the Japanese marketers chose to market almost exclusively to women, encouraging them to buy chocolates and other treats for the men in their lives (or, in some cases, the men they *wanted* in their lives).

Passion Fruit KitKat - for the one you love...

The marketing worked--perhaps too well--and Valentine's Day became a major gift-buying occasion in Japan . . . but only for women.

Yep, you heard me correctly. In Japan, Valentine's Day is a day when women buy (or bake) gifts for men (and sometimes, other women). 

A Valentine's offering from Ginza Cosy Corner

Valentine's gifts are usually edible, but can include other things as well, and fall into one of three categories:

本命  チョコ (honmei choco): "Love chocolates" - given to a person for whom a woman has romantic feelings. It's generally considered bad form to give honmei choco to multiple people, and this type of gift is usually fancier and more expensive than the other types.

友 チョコ (tomo choco): "Friend chocolates" - usually given by women to other women, or to men, whom the giver likes in a non-romantic context. These vary in size, quality, and fanciness, but are not usually large--in Japan, even a single chocolate or a single cookie is considered more than satisfactory to show the recipient he or she is special.

Sakura (cherry blossom) Pocky . . . for the one you don't quite love.

義理 チョコ (giri choco): "The chocolates of obligation" - given to co-workers, family members, and others to whom the giver owes a social debt. These typically come in boxes, but individually-wrapped, so they can be handed out at the office or workplace. However, where a large difference in social standing (and salary) exists, and the giver stands in the higher social position, giri choco may take the form of small, beautifully-wrapped boxes containing several chocolates, specially made for this purpose and sold only at this time of year.

KitKat Ruby - naturally pink, because it's made with ruby chocolate

Now, some of you may be thinking it a little unfair (or awesome, depending on your orientation) that women must do all the Valentine's buying and giving, while men get showered in obligation-free chocolates.

NOT SO FAST, THERE, DUDES.

Exactly one month from today, on March 14, Japan celebrates White Day--Valentine's masculine mirror-twin, upon which men are obligated to give chocolates (or other edible gifts) to all of the women in their lives.

The Valentine's "sweet sampler" at Paul in Kagurazaka

Like Valentine's Day, White Day was the brainchild of Japanese confectioners, who decided it was unfair that men should benefit from Valentine's Day without having to purchase chocolates, pastries, and other treats in return. (The jury is out as to whether the confectioners considered it unfair to the *men* or to their own pocketbooks...but in either case, justice was swiftly served--with a side of frosting.) 

Strawberry Love Tart. Because White Day revenge is sweet indeed.

Since 1978, when the second holiday was invented, March 14--White Day--has been "Valentine's Payback" in Japan, when men have precisely the same three choc-obligations that women have a month before . . . and, usually, the duty to take their wives or girlfriends out to sample the wide variety of special parfaits and sundaes on many restaurant menus, besides.

 

January/February is also strawberry season in Japan - making things like this a regular late-winter sight.

And now you know how we do Valentine's in Japan.

Happy Valentine's Day.

This being a site hosted by crime writers, you might think I’m about to plunge into a discussion of the most famous bloody Valentine’s Day ever, February 14, 1929.  That’s when members of Al Capone’s South Side Gang—some dressed as cops—lined up seven men affiliated with Bugs Moran’s North Side Gang inside a garage and shot them dead as part of a war for control of organized crime in Prohibition-era Chicago. 

But you’d be wrong, for this piece is about hearts and flowers.  No, ye cynics, not bullets through the heart and flowers for a funeral, but those bouquets you give to your beloved on the 14^th of February—or risk consequences unmentionable in civilized society.

Yes, chocolates (a rumored aphrodisiac) and cards (did you know the first card was written in the form of a poem from a royal prisoner in the Tower of London to his wife?—even he knew forgetting was not an option) are also big Valentine’s Day favorites, too, but this is about flowers.

Charles, Duke of Orleans and first Valentine's Day card sender

But first a bit of history on how lovers became so obsessed with VD—hmm, any wonder why that acronym never caught on?

One legend says it began during a time of religious persecution in third century Rome, when Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for soldier-age young men.  Single men fought better, he thought. [Ed. Note: With great will power I resisted inserting a joke here.] 

A young priest thought that unfair, and kept performing marriages in secret.  When Claudius discovered the priest’s violation of his edict, the Emperor sentenced him to death.  While in prison, the priest befriended and healed his jailer’s blind daughter, and before being put to death—on February 14, 270—sent a letter to her signing it “From Your Valentine.”

Yep, Valentine was his name, and the legend goes on to say that in 496, after Valentine had been sainted, Pope Gelasius declared February 14^th as a day to honor his memory as the patron saint of happy marriages, engaged couples and young people.

That’s disputed though, for some claim the date corresponds to the Roman fertility celebration of Lupercalia held between February 13^th and 15^th, and others claim it relates more to the period on the ancient Athenian calendar dedicated to the marriage of Zeus and Hera.   You knew I’d work the Greeks in here somewhere.

Lupercalia by Beccafumi

But it’s undisputed that the romantic love connotation to Valentine’s Day began in the 14^th Century with this simple line by one rather influential writer:

 

Translation available via Glasgow

Still, it wasn’t until the early 1700s that flowers became a tradition on Valentine’s Day. That’s generally attributed to Charles II of Sweden’s introduction to Europe of the Persian custom of the “language of flowers.”  Each flower had its own meaning, a sort of secret code between the sender and recipient.

And with the rose symbolizing passion and love, it’s no wonder roses are the number one best seller every Valentine’s Day (257 million in the US in 2014).  But there are other flowers finding their way to Valentines, and for those of you wondering just what your beloved may have meant by those flowers that arrived at your doorstep today, here’s a list of meanings. http://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/aboutflowers/flower-meanings

Just don’t shoot the messenger.

By the way, Valentine’s Day isn’t a big deal in Greece.  No reason to be, Greece gave Eros to the world.  Now it’s only looking to get some love back in return.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Barbara, Karen, Jennifer, Gavi, and Rachel. Okay, Jon, Terry, and Azi, too. And of course to….

Jeff—Saturday