What would the celebration of St. Valentine’s Day be without chocolate and Valentine greetings?
Thanks to Old Sturbridge you won’t have to find out.
The village, which celebrates life in New England from 1790 to 1840, is presenting a special program, “Be Mine: Chocolate and Valentines,” Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 12 and 13.
“In 1868 Richard Cadbury (son of John who had founded that still existent chocolate company) invented the heart-shaped box of chocolates, which cemented the relationship between romance and chocolate,” said Thomas D. Kelleher, curator.
“Of course ever since the Aztecs some have touted chocolate as an aphrodisiac, a claim still debated today.”
The chocolate and Valentines event will include a visit from a re-enactor playing the part of Esther Howland, the Worcester woman credited with popularizing Valentines in the United States.
Examples of antique Valentines will be on display.
Costumed historians will demonstrate how chocolate was processed by hand using cacao beans in the original manner of ancient Mexico, where chocolate originated, and prepare 19th- century chocolate, which almost was exclusively a beverage.
“Valentine’s Day was not much observed in America before the 1840s, and chocolate was just a rather expensive and fussy hot beverage before that time,” Kelleher said.
In 1765 Dr. James Baker of Dorchester established a successful chocolate mill, but Baker’s chocolate was for making a hot beverage, not for baking.
“Until the second half of the 19th century, chocolate was indeed pretty much a drink, not a food,” Kelleher said.
“A few innovations in the early 1800s reduced the price of chocolate, but it was never as popular or affordable as tea or coffee.”
Outside of America, a few European confectioners occasionally used chocolate as an exotic flavoring in the early 1800s, but it remained relatively rare and then only for wealthy European aristocrats.
Chocolate candy as a luxury item gradually began to catch on in the mid-1800s, Kelleher continued, but it was the development of milk chocolate and a refining technique in the 1870s that began to make it a practical and popular confection.
In this country it was Milton Hershey who in 1894 began to make chocolate candy truly a candy for every American.
This is the first time village is offering the chocolate and Valentines event, but it is hoped it will become an annual one.
Visitors often ask how people in the 1830s celebrated many of the holidays that are commonplace today.
“Though the real answer is that Valentine’s Day wasn’t really celebrated during that time period — it was a minor holiday that appeared in their almanacs, but was largely ignored — we still wanted to acknowledge the visitors’ curiosity,” said Kate Brandt, marketing and communications coordinator.
“With the chocolate portion of the event, we are able to address something firmly rooted in our modern understanding of the holiday but put it in a 19th- century context.”
Special activities for children at the event will include making a Valentine, ice skating (bring your own skates), horse-drawn sleigh rides around the common and sledding on 1830s-style sleds (weather permitting).
Visitors will be able to relax inside beside one of the village’s cozy fireplaces and take part in hands-on crafts and activities.
Children can also spend time pretending in Old Sturbridge Village’s popular “KidStory” indoor play area.
Village staff members demonstrate historical cooking methods and hearth cooking there every day, and visitors often ask about the origins of foods and when certain foods came into popular use.
“It’s especially relevant when you have a cup of cocoa on a cold winter’s day or open a box of chocolates on Valentine’s Day to educate people about the rich and flavorful history of chocolate,” Brandt said.
Old Sturbridge Village is located off the Massachusetts Turnpike and Routes I-84 and 20 in Sturbridge.
Winter hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. including all Monday holidays.
Admission is $20 for adults; $18 for seniors; $7 for children ages 3 to 17.
Children under three are admitted free. Each admission includes free parking and a free second-day visit within 10 days.
For more information, visit www.osv.org or call (1-800) SEE-1830.