Valentine's Day

so... the time of the year when chocolate sales will top the roof has come back. I personally do not really have anything better to do, so I should write a little bit about Valentine's Day.

The origin of Valentine's Day came during the time of Emperor Claudius in Rome. Claudius, all of a sudden, restricted people of Rome from getting married. Of course, there was reason behind it; he wanted young men to join the army, not to get married and carried away, giving excuses to "take care of his family" when time for war came. So everyone feared getting married because it was strictly against the law to be married. However, there was a bishop during the time who was actually against this, and was promoting people to get married despite the law. He eventually was caught, and was executed according to the law. And that day happened to be February 14th, 207 A.D. (I think it's A.D.), and his name was Valentine. Well, that was the long story short. And that's how Valentine's Day came about to be.

So, how did chocolates came along in Valentine's Day? Well, it all started with a Japanese Salesman during 1970s. His job was to boost the sales of chocolate. He started researching what he can do to make the connection between chocolates and some special occasion. Then he discovered something; something that will definitely raise his sale - he found Phenylethylamine... Yeah, you read it right, Phenylethylamine... Okay, so what the heck is this? It's a neurotransmitter in your brain. Phenylethylamine (I know, I gave up pronouncing this word) is released when a man and a woman falls in love. In a marketing stance, that was the most brilliant connection, but not so much in any other ways; it just seems like the company found this to raise up their sales. But, whatever the history behind it, it does seem a little empty when we don't see chocolates during Valentine's Day. 

Valentine's Day was never a really special day for me, personally. Although I had several girl friends (:x), I never had one during the times of Christmas, my birthday, and Valentine's Day. I did end up receiving chocolates from people around me during Valentine's Day (yes, I did receive them from female friends), but i never got one from someone that I had in mind. Whenever I see couples going at it, building a competition see who can make their gifts for Valentine's Day bigger, I dreamed of getting a chocolate from that certain special person in my life, and walked home from school. So it never really remained as a good memory for me. 

In Korea, there's two Valentine's Day. Well, not really, but Valentine's Day is for females to give chocolates to males. There's another day for males to give something for females, and it's called "White Day" (Gee, now that I think about, it really amazes me where they come up with all these different kinds of names). "White Day" come exactly a month after Valentine's Day, March 14th of every year, and during this "White Day", males will be giving candies, not chocolate, but candies, to females that they admire, love, like, or however you want to put it. Well, it's another marketing promoted day, but hey, it worked right? (:

That's all I have got to say about Valentine's Day. I think celebrating Valentine's Day with a little background knowledge will make it a little bit more special this season. To all the loved ones, and to all those who will be celebrating Valentine's Day with whom day love, I guess there's only one thing to tell them...

♡ HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY ♡

ehehe... make it double heart just for fun.  eat chocolates and get fat! hahaha jk. (;