Valentine’s Day Trivia for That Special Day

By TR Robertson
As the most romantic of all the special days during the calendar year approaches, people of all ages will once again be thinking about what they will do for their special someone(s) on Valentine’s Day. What most people don’t know is the myriad of trivia and history surrounding Valentine’s Day. The following is a collection of facts, stories, and trivia about this special day that will give you a new perspective on why so many people spend so much time trying to figure out how to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
• The roots of Valentine’s Day date to the 6th century B.C. to a Roman fertility festival held February 13 and 15 called Lupercalia.
• At the festival animals were sacrificed and women were slapped with hides believing it would make them more fertile.
• Pope Gelasius I outlawed Lupercalia at the end of the 5th century B.C. and instituted St. Valentine’s Day on February 14th.
• Some controversy exists about the two or three men with the last name Valentine and how they figured into St. Valentine’s Day.
• One was a Roman priest from the 3rd century B.C. who was martyred by Claudius II Gothicus and one was a priest from the same time who lived 60 miles away who was also martyred by Claudius II.
• St. Valentine’s is the patron saint of love, engaged couples, happy marriages, beekeepers, epilepsy, fainting, greetings and happy marriages.
• Cupid dates to Greece in 700 B.C. when he was called Eros, able to make mortals fall in love with his magical arrows.
• Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love.
• It wasn’t until the 19th century that Cupid became the face of Valentine’s Day.
• In Medieval time the liver was thought to cause love.
• One of the earliest Valentine’s Day poems about romantic love and marriage was written by Chaucer in 1381.
• A sad Valentine’s was written by Charles, Duke of Orleans in 1415, when he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for 20 years. He wrote a letter to his wife beginning with My Gentle Valentine.
• February 14th was declared Valentine’s Day in 1537.
• In the 1700’s it became popular to give out handwritten notes and other love tokens on Valentine’s Day.
• Bay leaves were thought to bring good luck for English women in the 1700’s.
• In the mid-1800’s the “Mother of the American Valentine”, Esther A. Howland, began making cards with real lace and ribbons for a nickel apiece.
• 145 million Valentine’s cards are given each year.
• Hallmark first started selling Valentine’s Day cards in 1913.
• Mean-spirited Valentine’s Day cards were called Vinegars in Victorian England.
• A mean but comically mocking Valentine’s Day card was called A Penny Dreadful.
• Richard Cadbury created the first known heart-shaped box of chocolates sold in 1861.
• Today, 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate are sold annually.
• Sweethearts candy was originally made to be medical lozenges.
• Necco, in 1866, produced candy with messages on them like “Married in white you have chosen right”.
• Today 8 billion of these chalky candies are made annually.
• Red roses as a symbol of romance dates back to ancient Rome.
• California produces the most red roses.
• Yellow roses symbolize friendship.
• During the Victorian era men began to give flowers to women on Valentine’s Day.
• 250 million roses are grown each year for Valentine’s Day.
• Americans spent more than $23.9 billion on Valentine’s Day last year. Over $6.2 billiion goes toward jewelry.
• Close to 6 million couples become engaged on Valentine’s Day
• The longest marriage ever recorded was 86 years, 290 days – Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher from Jersey City, North Carolina.
• More than 72 million American adults bought Valentine’s gifts for their cats and dogs.
• Tomatos were once thought to be an aphrodisiac called “love apples”.
• YouTube was launched on Valentine’s Day 2005.
• The telephone was patented on Valentine’s Day.
• Valentine’s Day is mentioned in Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet”.
• “Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown” aired in 1975.
• February 14th is called “Friend’s Day” in Finland.
• Every year letters to Juliet are sent to Verona, Italy.
• Almond blossoms appear on some Valentine’s Day cards and are a symbol of eternal love in Greek mythology.
• In Medieval time women would eat bizarre foods on Valentine’s Day in hopes they would dream about their future spouses.
• Some friends celebrate Galentine’s Day on February 13th with their favorite “gal pals”, taken from a 2010 episode of “Parks and Recreation”, “We need to remember what’s important in life: friends, waffles, work. Or waffles, friends, work. Doesn’t matter, but work is third.”
These are but a few of the bizarre, unusual and interesting bits of information about one of the favorite days for people to celebrate with their special someones. However or with whomever you celebrate, have a wonderful and enjoyable Valentine’s Day.