Valentines Day. The day to celebrate love for the special people in your life. Some feel that this should be strictly between a man and woman, but many give gifts to lots of people and pets that they love. I have been giving gifts to my husband, children and now grand children for years. Nothing extravagant, candy, baked goods and a small token of my love for them. Even if you don’t exchange anything, spend time with the ones you love on February 14, and every day. Give them a call. Anything you do will be greatly appreciated.
Here are some fun facts about Valentine’s Day.
There are lots of legends surrounding St. Valentine, however all the stories surrounding him show him as a sympathetic, heroic and most importantly, a romantic figure. Valentine’s greetings were popular dating as far back as the Middle Ages. Written Valentines appear after 1400. St. Valentine sent the first Valentine greeting and signed it…”from your Valentine”.
In Victorian times, it was considered to be bad luck if you put your name on the Valentine. X symbol became synonymous with the kiss in medieval times. People who couldn’t write their names, signed with an X in front of a witness, then kissed the X to show sincerity.
In the Middle Ages young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who would be their Valentine. They would wear the name pinned onto their sleeves for everyone to see. This was the origin of the expression “to where your heart on your sleeve”.
In 1537, England’s King Henry VII officially declared February 14th the holiday of St. Valentine’s Day.
Richard Cadbury produced the 1st box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day in the late 1800’s
More than 35 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be sold for Valentine’s Day
73% of Men buy flowers and 27% of women buy them. 15% of women send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day
The red rose was the favorite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love
Red roses are considered the flower of love because the color red stands for strong romantic feelings
Teachers will receive the most Valentine’s Day cards followed by children, mothers, wives, sweethearts and pets
220,000 is the average number of wedding proposals on Valentine’s Day per year
Every Valentine’s Day, the Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet lived receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet
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