Greetings all!
As Valentine’s Day approaches, I collected 7 interesting facts about this holiday for you:
1) The holiday is celebrated differently in many countries but celebrated it is with about 1 billion Valentine cards and 250 million roses annually!
2) February 15 is an unofficial Valentine's Day alternative for singles, called Singles Awareness Day (or Singles Appreciation Day).
3) At least three different martyred saints are associated with the holiday, and the legends go back to ancient Roman and Christian traditions.
4) Another origin story is the pagan celebration of Lupercalia, a Roman fertility festival, which definitely poses an interesting alternative to today’s dating apps:
“To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat’s hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.” (https://www.history.com/)
5) The English poet Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to officially brand the day as a day of romantic celebration in 1375 in one of his works.
6) The oldest-known Valentine was sent in 1415 from prison by a 21-year-old Charles, Duke of Orleans. The story has a tragic end: the Duke spent more than 20 years in prison, and his wife died before they reunited. Here is his poem:
My very gentle
Valentine,
Since for me you were born too soon,
And I for you was born too late.
God forgives him who has estranged
Me from you for the whole year.
I am already sick of love,
My very gentle Valentine.
~ As read at https://www.lanternghosttours.com/post/history-s-oldest-known-valentine-was-written-in-prison
7) People buy gifts for their loved ones, kids, friends, co-workers, teachers, pets, and themselves. The most popular gift categories are candy, flowers, cards, jewelry, and dining out. In the US, the 2023 jewelry spending was $6.2 billion!
What did you
think? Drop me a line!
Sources (and more facts!):
- https://www.boredpanda.com/valentines-day-facts/
- https://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day-2#section_2
- https://share.america.gov/valentines-day-in-u-s-and-around-world
- https://www.lanternghosttours.com/post/history-s-oldest-known-valentine-was-written-in-prison
- https://safnow.org/aboutflowers/holidays-occasions/valentines-day/valentines-day-floral-statistics
- https://fitsmallbusiness.com/valentines-day-spending-statistics
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