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Valentine's Day
Saint
Valentine's Day is an annual Holiday celebrated on February 14. The main
reason for the holiday is to celebrate the love between a couple in
relationship. The day was established by
by
Pope Gelasius I
in 500 AD, and named after one or more early Christian martyrs named
Valentine.
- The modern day
celebration of Valentines Day is believed to begin in France and
England.
- Cupid (symbol for
Roman God of love), doves, love birds, roses, hearts and arrows are
all symbols of the Valentine’s Day celebration.
- Pope Gelasius declared
February 14 St. Valentine's Day around 498 A.D.
- In Great Britain,
Valentine's Day began to be celebrated around seventeenth century. By
the middle of the eighteenth century, it was common for friends and
lovers to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes.
- There was a belief in
the Middle Ages that the first unmarried person (of the opposite sex)
you met on the morning of St. Valentine's Day would become your
spouse.
- The first Valentine
gift was sent by Duke of Orleans to his wife, after he was captured in
1415.
- In olden times, some
people believed that if a woman saw a robin flying overhead on
Valentine's Day, it meant she would marry a sailor. If she saw a
sparrow, she would marry a poor man and be very happy. If she saw a
goldfinch, she would marry a millionaire.
- The heart is the most
common symbol of romantic love. Ancient cultures believed the human
soul lived in the heart and its red color is though to be the most
romantic.
- The red rose was the
favorite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Since red stands
for strong feelings, red rose is a flower of love.
- The first Valentine's
Day box of chocolates was introduced by Richard Cadbury in 1868.
- In Wales, wooden love
spoons were carved and given as gifts on Valentine’s Day. Hearts, keys
and keyholes were favorite Valentine decorations on the wooden spoons
that meant, "You unlock my heart!"
- About 1 billion
Valentine's Day cards are exchanged in US each year. That's the
largest seasonal card-sending occasion of the year, next to Christmas.
- Women purchase 85% of
all valentines.
- In order of
popularity, Valentine's Day cards are given to teachers, children,
mothers, wives, sweethearts and pets.
- Parents receive 1 out
of every 5 valentines.
- About 3% of pet owners
will give Valentine's Day gifts to their pets.
- Valentine's Day and
Mother's Day are the biggest holidays for giving flowers.
- Worldwide, over 50
million roses are given for Valentine's Day each year.
- California produces 60
percent of American roses, but the vast number sold on Valentine's Day
in the United States are imported, mostly from South America.
Approximately 110 million roses, the majority red, will be sold and
delivered within a three-day time period.
- 73% of people who buy
flowers for Valentine's Day are men, while only 27 percent are women.
- Men buy most of the
millions of boxes of candy and bouquets of flowers given on
Valentine's Day.
- In the Middle Ages,
young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentines
would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week.
To wear your heart on your sleeve now means that it is easy for other
people to know how you are feeling.
- The Italian city of
Verona, where Shakespeare's lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives
about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every Valentine's Day.
- Alexander Graham Bell
applied for his patent on the telephone, an "Improvement in
Telegraphy", on Valentine's Day, 1876.
- The oldest surviving
love poem till date is written in a clay tablet from the times of the
Sumerians, inventors of writing, around 3500 B.C
- Amongst the earliest
Valentine's Day gifts were candies. The most common were chocolates in
heart shaped boxes.
- In some countries, a
young woman may receive a gift of clothing from a prospective suitor.
If the gift is kept, then it means she has accepted his proposal of
marriage
- If an individual
thinks of five or six names considered to be suitable marriage
partners and twists the stem of an apple while the names are being
recited, then it is believed the eventual spouse will be the one whose
name was recited at the moment the stem broke.
- In Medieval times,
girls ate unusual foods on St Valentine's Day to make them dream of
their future husband.
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