Une loterie d’amour, or “a drawing for love,” was a popular Valentine’s Day custom in 18th-century France. Groups of unmarried people would gather in houses that faced each other (men in one, women in the other), and women would call out the names of the men with whom they wanted to “couple.” If men rejected ladies who chose them, the jilted women would then gather for a bonfire, where they would yell insults and burn images of the men who turned them down. The practice got so raucous that it was banned by the French government in 1776.
Sounds a little like the Derricott family reunion. Speaking of reunions, my mom's maiden name is "Bodily". Don't you think it would be fun to call the reunion "The Annual Bodily Function"?
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