Why is Valentine’s Day, a holiday dedicated to the sweet bloom of love, celebrated in a cold month more suited to hats and gloves than to thoughts of love
"It’s very mysterious," says Henry Kelly, director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of California. Kelly theorizes lovers everywhere can thank two guys from the 14th century: renowned poet Geoffrey Chaucer—famous for penning "The Canterbury Tales"—and a not-so-famous saint who went by the name of Valentine.
In 1381, Chaucer was busy composing a poem in honor of the arranged marriage between England’s Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. Chaucer was looking for just the right saint to honor on May 3, the day Richard II signed the papers of engagement to his Bohemia beauty.
His search ended, Kelly guesses, when Chaucer learned that a Saint Valentine of Genoa had an honorary feast day on May 3. So he wrote the poem "The Parliament of Fowls" in the couple’s honor.
"The Parliament of Fowls" literally means "the meeting of birds" , says Kelly. "Chaucer dreamed up the idea that all birds chose their mates on May 3rd. When the spring brought its sunny smile back to the earth, it was easy to imagine the winged animals fluttering about and flirting with their lovers. "
After Chaucer’s death in ld00, Valentine’s Day celebrations got pushed back to February. The date may have changed because the first song birds that traditionally warble(鸟鸣) after a winter tend to debut in mid-February.
But the holiday that honors lovebirds everywhere with rhymed verse and colored candy hearts has not always been so popular.
The very celebration of Valentine’s Day has gone in and out of vogue. In the 16th century in Genoa you have it, but there is not much notice of it in other countries.
The sweet-toothed holiday experienced renewed vigor in England just prior to 1800, and publishing companies came to the aid of tongue-tied lovers by distributing booklets of passages lovers could use to stir hearts. If they couldn’t find the words in their hearts, companies figured, at least these Romeos could find some coins in their pocket to make their sweethearts happy.
The celebration suffered a popularity plunge in the 19th century, but by the next century, Americans had rescued Valentine’s Day from the trash heap, turning it into a commercial bonanza.
Henry Kelly’s research on Valentine’s Day ______.