How Valentine’s Became a Chocolate and Card Day

Smithsonian Magazine tells us that India wants to rebrand Valentine’s Day. Urging their citizens to shift to their own culture from a Western tradition, the Modi government proclaimed that February 14 would be “Cow Hug Day.”

In the West also, Valentine’s Day has a history of branding.

Valentine’s Day History

No one is sure but Valentine’s Day might have had its earliest origins in an ancient Roman ceremoney that combined violence with matchmatching. In addition, we could say that the Romans were responsible for the name of the holiday when the Catholic church martyred two men named Valentine that the Romans had executed. After that, for centuries, in different ways, we’ve recognized and romanticized Valentine’s Day,

Most recently though, through several nudges, we commercialized it.

One nudge came from chocolate makers named Cadbury and Hershey. In 1861, in Britain, Richard Cadbury created cupid decorated “eating chocolates” and placed them in heart-shaped boxes. In the U.S., Milton Hershey (reputedly) had his “aha” moment when he thought he heard his equipment make a “smooching noise.”  And, from that time in 1907, the result was Hershey Kiss history.

A second commercial nudge came from the greeting card. Although Valentine’s cards were made during the 1800s, it appears the idea took off with Hallmark and others like them at the beginning of the 20th century.

At its website, Hallmark shared this history of their Valentine’s cards:

Our Bottom Line: Valentine’s Spending

Projected at $192.80 per household, a hefty chunk of that Valentine’s Day spending total will go to chocolates and cards:

Returning to where we began, we can perceive the West’s branding of Valentine’s Day as an historic march toward commercialization. Responding, India’s animal welfare department said that the “dazzle” of Western culture “…has made our physical culture and heritage almost forgotten.” Their suggested rebranding takes the population to what their Hindu heritage believes is sacred.

My sources and more: For more detail on Valentine’s Day history, this NPR article is a good place to start (and stop). From there, always a destination for a good story, Smithronian had more to say about Valentine’s, here and here. Next, AP News had the Valentine’s card history as did Hallmark, while Nerdist focused on commercialization. Please note that all I have concluded today needs statistical confirmation.