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Nothing says the holidays quite like ... chocolate. Well, not really, because there is no historical connection between chocolate and Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa. Chocolate is a very popular gift during the holidays, however, but apart from chocolate gelt (foil coins filled with chocolate that are common Hanukkah gifts for smaller children) there just really aren't any holiday traditions that center around chocolate.

Why is that? Well, probably because chocolate wasn't known to any major organized religion until the 1500s, and for centuries chocolate was at the center of an arcane theological struggle in the Catholic church: Was chocolate a food or a beverage? IF chocolate was a beverage it could be consumed during times of fasting (after midnight and before Sunday mass and during Lent) but if it was a food it could not. The argument raged for well over 100 years and even popes weighed in on the matter (on both sides, clearing nothing up).

Believe it or not Sephardic Jews also have a lot to do with the spread of chocolate. When they fled the Spanish Inquisition many took with them knowledge of chocolate manufacturing over the Pyrenees into Southwestern France, settling in and around Bayonne, the spiritual home of chocolate in France.

Despite the completely secular nature of chocolate, the period from Thanksgiving through Valentine's Day and especially the month of December, is when the majority of chocolate gets sold. Chocolate is an easy gift to give and there are very few people who will actually re-gift a box of chocolate, making it a very safe item to gift.

But why should holiday chocolate be all about gifting to others? We are told relentlessly that it is better to give than to receive, but I do know that giving myself the gift of chocolate for the holidays is a great way to spread holiday cheer while making things much more pleasant for those around me.

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