It's Tu B'Av! Party like it's 1999(BCE)!

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“I am so beautiful, and you are so smart. We will make wonderful
children together, querida.”
A smile quirked her cool lips as she adjusted her spectacles. “Let us
hope they inherit a bit of modesty from me, Mr. Lopez. Why do you
say I am smart?”
He leaned forward and placed his lips just below her ear, a soft kiss
that wouldn’t disarrange the lace or be noticed later.
“You are smart because you agreed to marry me. Which makes me
not only beautiful, but muy mazaloso,” he added in Ladino. “An
extremely fortunate man.
--Captain Sinister's Lady


Today (Thursday night/Friday) is Tu B'Av, "Chag HaAhava" in Hebrew, the Jewish Day of Love.  What?  You didn't know there was a Jewish holiday celebrating romantic love?  There is, and has been since before the Common Era.

On Tu B'Av (the 15th day of the month of Av) in ancient Israel, young women would go to the vineyards and dance in white dresses, singing "Young man, consider whom you choose (to be your wife)". The girls would exchange white dresses prior to the dancing, so the rich girls weren't dressed finer than the poor girls. Tu B'Av is also always a night of the full moon, an excellent time for romance.

The holiday fell off the radar for about 2,000 years, but has had a resurgence in Israel where it's become akin to Valentine's Day. So when you look up at that full moon tonight with your honey, you'll be sharing in a holiday that goes back centuries and is being carried on today, because there's nothing like celebrating romance.


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