No, the Ancient Egyptians did not actually celebrate a specific romantic holiday – sorry! But they were a very loving and sensual people. The goddess Hathor was the appointed deity to watch over love, beauty, music, motherhood and joy. She doesn’t appear in my novel Priestess of the Nile, although she does play a role in some of my Works in Progress. She was known as “The Great One of Many Names” and was associated with sweet smelling incense, mirrors and dancing. She was depicted as a beautiful woman, or as a cow or as a woman with a cow’s head, often wearing a crown with a sun disk. No doubt young lovers found time to enjoy romantic moments during her festivals!

Here’s a charming excerpt from a 3000 year old Egyptian love poem, from the time when my novel takes place:

            She is one girl, there is no one like her.
She is more beautiful than any other.
Look, she is like a star goddess arising
at the beginning of a happy new year;
brilliantly white, bright skinned;
with beautiful eyes for looking,
with sweet lips for speaking;
she has not one phrase too many.