Ancient
Romans honoured the goddess Juno on February 14th. Juno was the Queen of
the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the Goddess of
women and marriage. The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of
Lupercalia.
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.
Some people used
to believe 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.
Some people said
if you found a glove on the road on Valentine's Day, your future beloved
will have the other missing glove.
Some believed the
first man's name you read in the paper or hear will be the name of the
man you will marry.
Pick a dandelion
that has gone to seed. Take a deep breath and blow the seeds into the wind.
Count the seed that remain on the stem, and that is the number of children
you will have.
Or, cut an apple
in half and count how many seeds are inside, you can also tell how many
children you will have.
15% of U.S. women
send themselves flowers on Valentine's Day.
73% of people who
buy flowers for Valentine's Day are men, while only 27 percent are women.
About 1 billion
Valentine's Day cards are exchanged each year. That's the largest seasonal
card-sending occasion of the year, next to Christmas.
About 3% of pet
owners will give Valentine's Day gifts to their pets.
Alexander Graham
Bell applied for his patent on the telephone, an "Improvement in Telegraphy",
on Valentine's Day, 1876.
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.
Cupid, another symbol
of Valentines Day, became associated with it because he was the son of
Venus, the Roman god of love and beauty. Cupid often appears on Valentine
cards holding a bow and arrows because he is believed to use magical arrows
to inspire feelings of love.
During the late
1800s, postage rates around the world dropped, and the obscene St. Valentine's
Day card became popular, despite the Victorian era being otherwise very
prudish. As the numbers of racy valentines grew, several countries banned
the practice of exchanging Valentine's Days cards. During this period,
Chicago's post office rejected more than 25,000 cards on the grounds that
they were so indecent, they were not fit to be carried through the U.S.
mail.
During the Middle
Ages, the belief that birds chose their mates on St. Valentine's Day led
to the idea that boys and girls would do the same. Up through the early
1900s, the Ozark hill people in the eastern United States thought that
birds and rabbits started mating on February 14, a day for them which was
not only Valentine's Day but Groundhog Day as well.
February 14, 270
A.D. : Roman Emperor Claudius II, dubbed "Claudius the Cruel," beheaded
a priest named Valentine for performing marriage ceremonies. Claudius II
had outlawed marriages when Roman men began refusing to go to war in order
to stay with their wives.
Hallmark has over
1330 different cards specifically for Valentine's Day.
Humorous valentines
of the 19th century were called "Vinegar Valentines" or "Penny Dreadfuls."
Vinegar Valentines were introduced in 1858 by John McLaughin, a Scotsman
with a New York City Publishing Business. Penny Dreadfuls with comic designs
drawn in 1870 by American cartoonists Charles Howard became known as Penny
Dreadfuls.
In 1929 in Chicago,
gunmen in the suspected employment of organized-crime boss Al Capone murder
seven members of the George "Bugs" Moran North Siders gang in a garage
on North Clark Street. The so-called St. Valentine's Day Massacre stirred
a media storm centered on Capone and his illegal Prohibition-era activities
and motivated federal authorities to redouble their efforts to find evidence
incriminating enough to take him off the streets.
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.
In the United States,
64 percent of men do not make plans in advance for a romantic Valentine's
Day with their sweethearts.
In Victorian times
it was considered bad luck to sign a Valentine's Day card.
In Wales, wooden
love spoons were carved and given as gifts on February 14th. Hearts, keys
and keyholes were favorite decorations on the spoons. The decoration meant,
"You unlock my heart!"
It wasn't until
1537 that St. Valentine's Day was declared an official holiday. England's
King Henry VIII declared February 14th a holiday.
On February 14,
1779, Captain James Cook, the great English explorer and navigator, was
murdered by natives of Hawaii during his third visit to the Pacific island
group.
One single perfect
red rose framed with baby's breath is referred to by some florists as a
"signature rose," and is the preferred choice for many for giving on Valentine's
Day, anniversary, or birthday.
Only the U.S., Canada,
Mexico, France, Australia and the U.K. celebrate Valentine's Day.
Sir Alexander Fleming
was a young bacteriologist when an accidental discovery led to one of the
great developments of modern medicine. Having left a plate of staphylococcus
bacteria uncovered, Fleming noticed that a mold that had fallen on the
culture had killed many of the bacteria. He identified the mold as penicillium
notatum, similar to the kind found on bread. On February 14, 1929, Fleming
introduced his mold by-product called penicillin to cure bacterial infections.
Some people used
to believe 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.
Teachers will receive
the most Valentine's Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, and
then, sweethearts. Children ages 6 to 10 exchange more than 650 million
Valentine's cards with teachers, classmates, and family members.
The "I Love You"
computer virus was detected in Hong Kong on May 1, 2000. In four days the
virus had mutated into three different generations. Figures by Trend Micro
Inc. showed that "I Love You" had infected 3.1 million computers worldwide.
The 17th century
a hopeful maiden ate a hard-boiled egg and pinned five bay leaves to her
pillow before going to sleep on Valentine's eve. It was believed this would
make her dream of her future husband.
The ancient Romans
celebrated the Feast of Lupercalia in honor of Juno, the queen of the Roman
gods and goddesses on February 14. Juno was also the goddess of women and
marriage.
The Empire State
Building in New York City played a prominent role in the movie Sleepless
in Seattle. This year 15 couples will take (or renew) their vows on the
80th floor of this famous landmark.
The first American
publisher of valentines was printer and artist Esther Howland. During the
1870s, her elaborate lace cards were purchased by the wealthy, as they
cost a minimum of 5 dollars - some sold for as much as 35 dollars. Mass
production eventually brought prices down, and the affordable "penny valentine"
became popular with the lower classes.
The first photograph
of a U.S. President was taken on February 14, 1849 by Matthew Brady in
New York City. President James Polk was the subject of the famous picture.
.
The first televised
tour of the White House aired on February 14 in 1962. First Lady Jackie
Kennedy hosted the tour.
The heart is the
most common symbol of romantic love. Ancient cultures believed the human
soul lived in the heart. Others thought it to be the source of emotion
and intelligence. Some believed the heart embodied a man's truth, strength
and nobility. The heart may be associated with love because the ancient
Greeks believed it was the target of Eros, known as Cupid to the Romans.
Anyone shot in the heart by one of Cupid's arrows would fall hopelessly
in love. Because the heart is so closely linked to love, it's red colour
is thought to be the most romantic.
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.
The Kama Sutra is
believed to be the oldest sex manual in existence. Generally considered
the standard work on love in Sanskrit literature, the book is thought to
have been written around 300 A.D.
The most fantastic
gift of love is the Taj Mahal in India. It was built by Mughal Emperor
Shahjahan as a memorial to his wife, who died in childbirth. Work on the
Taj began in 1634 and continued for almost 22 years. required the labor
of 20,000 workers from all over India and Central Asia.
The oldest known
Valentines were sent in 1415 A.D. by the Duke of Orleans to his French
wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. It is still on display
in a museum in England.
The oldest surviving
love poem is written in a clay tablet from the times of the Sumerians,
inventors of writing, around 3500 B.C. It was unromantically named Istanbul
#2461 by the archeologists who unearthed it.
The red rose was
the favorite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Red stands for
strong feelings which is why a red rose is a flower of love.
Valentine's Day
is big business. Consumers will spend an average of $77.43 on Valentine's
Day gifts this year. E-commerce retailers expect to rack up about $650
million in sales of food, candy, flowers, and other Valentine's Day gifts.
Of that amount about $350 million will be for gifts and flowers and another
$45 million will be spent on food (including chocolate) and wine.
Wearing a wedding
ring on the fourth finger of the left hand dates back to ancient Egypt,
where it was believed that the vein of love ran from this finger directly
to the heart.
A ring has been
included in wedding ceremonies since the 12th century. Pope Innocent the
Third ordained that marriages had to take place in church and that a wedding
ring should be exchanged during the service.
In England, the
Romans, who had taken over the country, had introduced a pagan fertility
festival held every February 14. After the Romans left England, nearly
a century later, the pagan ritual was abolished by Pope Gelsius who established
St. Valentine's Day as a celebration of love in 496 A.D.
In America, the
pilgrims sent confections, such as sugar wafers, marzipan, sweetmeats and
sugar plums, to their betrothed. Great value was placed on these gifts
because they included what was then a rare commodity, sugar. After the
late 1800's, beet sugar became widely used and more available, and sweet
gifts continued to be valued and enjoyed.
Chocolate manufacturers
currently use 40 percent of the world's almonds and 20 percent of the world's
peanuts.
For you see, each day I love you more
Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.
~ Rosemonde Gerard
Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes
out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear
of an end.
~ Author Unknown
Trip over love, you can get up. Fall
in love and you fall forever.
~ Author Unknown
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the
mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.
~ William Shakespeare, Mid-Summer Night's
Dream, 1595
When love is not madness, it is not love.
~ Pedro Calderon de la Barca
Loving is not just looking at each other, it's
looking in the same direction.
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Wind, Sand,
and Stars, 1939
Gravitation is not responsible for people falling
in love.
~ Albert Einstein
Love is a sweet tyranny, because the lover
endureth his torments willingly.
~ Proverb
You have to walk carefully in the beginning
of love; the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come
later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip.
~ Jonathan Carroll, "Outside the Dog Museum"
Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.
~ William Shakespeare
kisses are a better fate
than wisdom.
~ e.e. cummings
If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
~ Author Unknown
Who, being loved, is poor?
~ Oscar Wilde
The hours I spend with you I look upon as sort
of a perfumed garden, a dim twilight, and a fountain singing to it.
You and you alone make me feel that I am alive. Other men it is said
have seen angels, but I have seen thee and thou art enough.
~ George Moore
Grow old along with me, the best is yet to
be.
~ Robert Browning
Love is the enchanted dawn of every heart.
~ Lamartine
It's not the men in my life that count -- it's
the life in my men.
- Mae West (1892-1980)
One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.
- Rita Mae Brown
Never judge someone by who he's in love with;
judge him by his friends. People fall in love with the most appalling people.
Take a cool, appraising glance at his pals.
~ Cynthia Heimel
Love is like the measles; we all have to go
through it.
~ Jerome K. Jerome
One advantage of marriage, it seems to me,
is that when you fall out of love with him, or he falls out of love with
you, it keeps you together until maybe you fall in again.
~ Judith Viorst
Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling
up as the brain empties.
~ Jules Renard
It is never too late to fall in love.
~ Sandy Wilson
We loved with a love that was more than love.
~ Edgar Allan Poe
Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift
for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those
who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.
~ Henry Van Dyke
Love is much nicer to be in than an automobile
accident, a tight girdle, a higher tax bracket or a holding pattern over
Philadelphia.
~ Judith Viorst, Redbook, 1975