History of past time

Heavenly pair: chocolate and Valentine's Day

Ever since movies became the biggest thing, chocolate has been dedicated as the symbol of love. Jean Harlow’s performance in the "Dinner at Eight" in 1933, forever linked chocolate to love.  She is seen in the film lounging in bed on a heart-shaped pillow, she eats through a big box of chocolates. Turns out that chocolate really has a huge history as a love icone, passion for chocolate is seen in early years. The Theobroma cacao tree that is native to South America, produces seed pods. People crack them open and remove the seeds, which are called cacao beans. Cacao beans were highly prized items among rich Mayans and Aztecs. Cacao beans were just as valuable as gold, they could be seen using cacao beans to pay taxes charged by Aztec rulers. The origin of Valentine’s Day is attributed to many different early Christians that were named Valentine. However, there is another theory that the romantic holiday seems to appear first in writer Geoffrey Chaucer’s 1382, poem “Parlement of Foules.” Chaucer describes love when “every bird cometh to choose his mate” on “seynt Voantynes day.”