Next week is Valentine’s Day, so don’t wait until the last minute to buy those flowers and chocolates!
The holiday itself has obscure roots. All we know is that sometime around the 1840s, its popularity as a lover’s day took off in the US and the UK. The first commercial Valentine’s Day cards were printed about that time. During the Civil War era, “window” Valentines were often sent to one’s sweetheart, so called because the front flaps opened to reveal a message. Men with spare money could purchase “eating chocolates,” made by Richard Cadbury and sold in keepsake boxes that then served to protect a lady’s mementoes (love letters, locks of hair, etc.).
After the war, many men left the war-torn East for the Wild West, and left behind such things as printed Valentine cards or chocolate boxes. Instead, they would craft something for their ladies with their own hands, such as a tooled leather sewing kit or a wooden blanket chest. The educated man would pen a love letter or even a poem for his sweetheart to keep. By the last decade of the 1800s, mail-order catalogs brought goods such as jewelry, hat pins, or parasols within easy reach to the man who had the money to spare.
Here’s a romantic ad from the 1873 Matrimonial Times of San Francisco: “Any gal that got a bed, calico dress, coffee pot and skillet, knows how to cut out britches and can make a hunting shirt, knows how to take care of children can have my services till death do us part.” What woman could resist such an eloquent invitation?
So buy your sweetie some flowers and chocolate, or write a love letter or poem. If you’re crafty, make something with your own hands. You’ve still got nearly a week left!