How Valentine’s Day Gifts Have Changed Through the Centuries: From Chaucer to Chocolates

Some couples merely exchange sidelong glances on Valentine’s Day out of shared skepticism. The modern world’s capitalization of love can undoubtedly come off as mundane.

Valentine’s Day presents, however, are hardly a modern idea. For hundreds of years, people have observed the day and given each other gifts of love.

Geoffrey Chaucer, a poet, official, and avid traveler over Europe in the 14th century, is the person we should initially look to. The first recorded mention of February 14 as a day dedicated to love is thought to be in Chaucer’s poem The Parliament of Fowls from the 1380s.

Although Chaucer characterized it as a day for people to pick their lovers, this day was already celebrated as the feast of a number of enigmatic early Roman martyred Saint Valentines. That was easier said than done, he was aware.

The poem’s narrator, who has had bad luck with love, laments that life is short compared to how long it takes to develop healthy romantic relationships. When he goes to sleep, he has a dream about a garden filled with all the different species of birds from across the world.

The gathered flocks are informed by Nature that they have gathered to choose their lovers in accordance with her regulations as they do on St. Valentine’s Day each year. But because they all place different values on their relationships, the birds are unable to agree on what it means to abide by her laws, which leads to uncertainty and disagreement.

Ethical and sentimental importance
In Chaucer’s era, presenting gifts might be highly ritualized and serve as a mark of dedication and intention. Any type of token pledged to ensure a promise was referred to as a “wed” in Old and Middle English. A “wedding” did not start to refer to a wedding ceremony until the 13th century.

During the same time, marriage evolved into an unshakable Christian covenant (a sacrament of the Church). New love-related traditions emerged in songs, novels, and other forms of art.

Love letters were written, significant acts of service were commemorated, and gifts of love were presented as a result of these customs, which had an impact on broader societal conceptions of feeling.

A few examples of romantic presents documented in the late middle centuries include rings, brooches, girdles (belts), gloves, gauntlets (sleeves), kerchiefs or other personalized textiles, combs, mirrors, purses, boxes, vessels, and pictures—and even fish.

In legends, gifts could be endowed with supernatural abilities. When Moses was forced to leave his first wife Tharbis, an Ethiopian princess, and return home in the 13th century, Rudolf von Ems wrote about it in his history of the world. Moses had two rings manufactured.

Tharbis would forget him if he handed her the one. Because he always wore them, her recollection remained vivid in his thoughts.

Wedding rings, significant since the 13th century, may indicate that a marriage had occurred by evidencing the intention and consent of the donor and recipient. Gifts could also have legal value outside of storytelling.

A heartfelt card that is fading or a sorrowful music that takes you back in time are all examples of good love tokens that can remain far longer than the emotions that inspired their gifting. As a result of serving as a constant reminder that everything is temporary, presents can take on new meaning.