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I know the Talmud describes how the fifteenth day of the month of Av (Tu b'Av) was a day of ... I'd say "matchmaking", but I think "marriage-minded-singles-meeting" is more like it:

אמר רבן שמעון בן גמליאל לא היו ימים טובים לישראל כחמשה עשר באב וכיוה"כ שבהן בנות ירושלים יוצאות ... וחולות בכרמים ומה היו אומרות בחור שא נא עיניך וראה מה אתה בורר לך אל תתן עיניך בנוי תן עיניך במשפחה (משלי לא) שקר החן והבל היופי אשה יראת ה' היא תתהלל ... תנא מי שאין לו אשה נפנה לשם

(Taanis 31a, and related final mishna)

And I know that today, there's no shortage of institutions hosting singles events, shabbatons, etc. around Tu B'Av.

But what about the 1800 years between then and now? Do we have sources (rabbinic or general historic) as to how Tu B'Av was observed for marriage-minded singles in different times, places, and cultures?

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It was not,as Lag Baomer and fires is a recent thing and so is Tashlich a more recent thing. – SimchasTorah Jul 26 '10 at 22:11
YS, LagBaomer bonfires and Tashlich are not in the Talmud, but everyone does them. Here's one that was in the Talmud, but then nobody did it? I suspect in communities with arranged marriages, why would this date (pun intended) be different than any other. Also the Mishna discussed pre-Destruction Jerusalem; was it limited to Jerusalem? – Shalom Jul 26 '10 at 22:59
בנות ירושלים does seem to indicate it was limited to Jerusalem Shlomo – Ishyehudi Jul 27 '10 at 20:50
there is some info on the wiki: he.wikipedia.org/wiki/… the links there could be useful – jutky Oct 11 '10 at 22:47
It would make sense that this holiday was not observed from the time that Jerusalem was destroyed until 1967. But the real point of my comment is that there are many holidays and fast days mentioned in the talmud which are not observed today. – avi Feb 10 '12 at 9:53

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