Out & About February 2017

It’s the month of romance, but it’s also cold, so why not cuddle up with your loved one in some snug sleepwear, share a box of chocolates and gaze lovingly at each other over the roses, cards, and knick knacks millions of us exchange each year on February 14th

Graham & Brown lit love shaped art House of Fraser £50

141 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged annually, making Valentine’s Day the second-most popular greeting-card- giving occasion. Although no one knows for sure the exact origin of Valentine’s Day, it is believed that it started in the Roman Empire around 270AD under the rule of Claudius II. During time of war, Claudius did not want men to get married because he believed it made them weak. It is said that Bishop Valentine would perform secret wedding ceremonies so the men could marry their sweethearts, and as a result he was sent to jail. Legend has it, that he wrote a love letter to the jailer’s daughter, signed ‘from your Valentine’. Bishop Valentine was put to death on February 14. During the Middle Ages men and women would pick names out of a bowl and that person would be considered their Valentine. They would then wear the name on their sleeve for a week. This is where the saying ‘wear your heart on your sleeve’ comes from.

The oldest known Valentine’s Day card is on display at the British Museum and dates back to the 1400s. In 1537, Henry VIII declared Valentine’s Day a public holiday and chose February 14 as the official day of celebration. The first box of chocolates made for Valentine’s Day was presented by Richard Cadbury to his wife in the 1800s. The box was heart-shaped. In Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet , the Montagues and Capulets carried out their feud in Verona. Every year thousands of Valentine’s Day cards are sent to Verona, addressed to Juliet. In France the loterie d’amour, or ‘drawing for love’ was when men and women would fill houses that faced one another, and then take turns pairing off. Men who weren’t satisfied with their match could simply leave a woman for another, but the women left unmatched built a bonfire and would burn pictures of the men who wronged them and hurl insults at the opposite sex. The French government banned the tradition when it got out of control.

Hotel Chocolat £39

Emma Bridgwater Love throw House of Fraser £140

TK Maxx £14

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