Anthropologists love to say “Bet you didn’t know this!” about cultural history and the origins of things in human use. Here are some revelations from an anthropologist about Valentine’s Day.
The earliest known holiday for mid-February was Lupercalia, a Roman holiday celebrating fertility. Why Saint Valentine, then? He was a martyr, executed for ministering to Christians in the third century. Lupercalia was replaced with St. Valentine by a fifth century pope, but only much, much later did romance enter the picture.
The sentiment came from 14th and 15th century court culture in France and other societies, in which elites were encouraged to write poetry and offer flowers. This courtly love was “civilized” and poetic rather than sensual or even ribald, as Valentine’s cards now sometimes demonstrate.
Chocolate entered the Valentine’s picture via English Quakers: Families such as the Cadburys (the most prominent others were Rowntree and Fry) in the 19th century made chocolates and in Valentine’s season sold them in heart-shaped boxes. The boxes, like cigar boxes, became themselves objects of desire, and it became almost obligatory to own one – perhaps as a place to store love letters.
Germans followed suit with lebkuchen cookies shaped like hearts and chocolate pigs to celebrate the beginning of spring. Again, only later was romance added.
Valentine’s cards showed up in America in 1847. Like Halloween, Valentine’s Day has been – and continues to be – transformed by commerce: Children have boxes of valentines created especially to give to classmates; women celebrate Galentine’s Day with each other (is there a male equivalent?); hotels offer chocolate buffets, gaggingly sweet.
Chocolate – the substance most associated with Valentine’s Day – was grown by the Aztecs, the original users and growers of cacao (its botanical name is Theobroma, or “food of the gods”). Cacao was celebrated unromantically as an aphrodisiac, and in the 16th century the conquistadores “discovered” chocolate and brought it to Europe. It is grown throughout Mexico and Central and South America. But its first documented use as a foodstuff was in about 1100 B.C., mixed with chiles to be “bitter water” – a sour, frothed beverage, the frothing achieved by pouring it from a height.
Our chocolate is made from ground cacao, and its own fats are amplified with butter or another fat (lard, in many places). Milk and sugar complete the usual ingredients. Chocolate is good for you – it lowers blood pressure, among other beneficial features. White chocolate, not so much, as it has no cocoa solids and is pure fat. American chocolate now comes mostly from West Africa, particularly Cote d’Ivoire, where the labor conditions are very poor. Look for chocolates that reflect humane kindness on a day that celebrates love.
Mexican chocolate is on display, and chocolate’s story is performed, at Taza Chocolate, which has a factory store at 561 Windsor St., Ward Two, Somerville. Tours are available.
Merry (“Corky”) White is professor of anthropology at Boston University, with specialties in Japanese studies, food and travel. A caterer before entering graduate school, she has written two cookbooks and “Coffee Life in Japan.”
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