Valentines Day falls on 14th February every year. It is also known as Saint Valentine’s Day! It is thought that Valentines Day is on this day because a priest called Valentine was performing secret marriages behind the back of Emperor Claudius II of Rome who banned marriage because he thought that unmarried soldiers fought much better. Valentines unfortunately got caught on 14th February in the year 270 AD.
Valentines Day Couple
The first ever Valentines Day was in 496! Previously there was a Roman festival called Lupercalia which was in the middle of February. During this festival, the boys would select a girls name out of a box. They would stay with whoever they picked
during the festival. Sometimes they would even get married. Later on, it was decided by the church that they wanted to change this festival into a Christian celebration. This was the start of Valentines Day.
Saint Valentine’s Day first took place in Paris on February 14, 1400. The oldest love poem was written around 4,000 years ago. It is called ‘The Love Song for Shu-Sin’ and was written by a Sumerian. Sumerians came up with one of the first writing forms. They lived where Iraq is today. The poem was carved into a clay tablet.
The first valentine was sent in the 15th century. The first valentine was reportedly a poem written by a French medieval duke named Charles to his wife in 1415. 145 million greeting cards are exchanged every year for Valentine’s Day. That’s just in the U.S. alone, according to Hallmark! Over one billion valentines are sent worldwide.
Candy hearts were originally medical lozenges. In 1847, Boston pharmacist Oliver Chase invented a machine to simplify the process of making lozenges. He then started making Necco candy wafers. 8 billion conversation hearts are manufactured each year.
Over $1 billion worth of chocolate is purchased for Valentine’s Day in the U.S. alone!
The heart shape wasn’t always a romantic symbol. People used to believe that the heart was the humans’ center of memory.
The chocolate box has been around for more than 150 years. Around 1850, the Cadbury company took advantage of falling import
costs and created the first box of chocolates. A decade later, they created the first heart-shaped box.
Lovebirds are actual birds. The term “lovebirds” is often used to describe a couple in love, but it’s also the common name for the Agapornis bird.
250 million roses are grown just for Valentine’s Day! The red rose is linked to the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite. It was believed
that Aphrodite’s tears and her love Adonis’ blood watered the ground where red roses were grown. Chocolates didn’t always mean
love. Physicians in the old days would recommend chocolate to people who were suffering from a broken heart or pining after a lost love.
Cupid is often on Valentines Cards and gifts. Cupid, who was also known as Eros, was actually the Roman God of love. Legend has
it that Cupid would shoot his arrow into people’s hearts… which would make them fall in love! The rise of Internet popularity
at the turn of the millennium is creating new traditions. Millions of people use, every year, digital means of creating and sending Valentine’s Day greeting messages such as e-cards, love coupons or printable greeting cards.