Oddities and Facts That You Should Know About Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day, the day of love and adoration, right? Not always. In some parts of the world, celebrating the holiday is strictly forbidden, in others the divorce rate spikes.

There are two theories of the origin of the day of love. The first is that Valentine’s Day derives from Lupercalia, a Roman festival that takes place on February 15^th. It was celebrated by men getting naked and spanking young maidens to increase fertility

In 496 A.D., Pope Gelasius the First made the feast of Saint Valentine a legitimate holiday. The pope’s hope was that by creating a holiday it would expel the pagan rituals of Lupercalia combining it with St. Valentine’s Day.

The first known Valentine’s Day happened in Paris on February 14^th, 1400. King Charles the Sixth of France created La Cour Amoreuse or The Court of High Love. The Medieval court was run entirely by women. These types of courts were common in France, Northern Italy, and Spain for centuries.

145 million greeting cards are exchanged industry-wide each year to celebrate Valentine’s Day. And this number comes from the United States alone! This is according to Hallmark, one of the top-most greeting card companies in the world.

In 1847 a Boston pharmacist named Oliver Chase created a mechanism that simplified the lozenge production process. Entrepreneurial and innovative Chase saw the opportunity to profit and revolutionize the candy making business.

In the Middle Ages, young men and women would draw names to reveal who their special Valentine would be and determine who they would be coupled with for the upcoming year. Once a Valentine was selected, they would wear the name of the person they drew pinned to their sleeves for one week as representation.

There’s a special reason that the red rose has come to represent the day of love’s festivities. Cupid, (you know the little guy with the arrow?) is the son of Venus, the goddess of love. I’m sure you can guess Venus’ favorite flower. That’s right, the red rose.

Have you ever wondered the origin of the “X” in “XOXO”? We’ve been using it for so long it’s ritualized, but where does it come from?

According to a survey taken by the National Retail Federation, Americans spent a whopping $21.8 billion for Valentine’s Day in 2021. They are projected to spend even more in 2022, a whopping $23.9 billion.

A woman named Esther Howland, a businesswoman and artist, is credited with popularizing the Valentine’s Day greeting card in the United States of America. The “Mother of the American Valentine” began to create embellished and crafty cards with lace and ribbons in the 1840’s.

The very first heart-shaped box of chocolates made an appearance in 1861 and was created by Richard Cadbury, the son of Cadbury founder, John Cadbury. Richard began packaging chocolates into decorative boxes to drive up his sales.

It should come as no surprise that Valentine’s Day (you know, the day of romantic affection and love) is a popular proposal date for nearly 6 million couples around the world.

Valentine’s Day is celebrated in different ways around the world. In Japan for instance, it is customary for women to gift the men in their life with chocolate the quality of their true feelings of the recipient.

While we use the term “lovebirds” commonly within our everyday speech to indicate two people who seem to be enamored with each other, it is also the common nickname for the Agapornis bird. This bird is a type of parrot that is found on the continent of Africa and found throughout the eastern and southern regions.

Yes, you read that right! There is an official International Quirkyalone Day for single people on February 14^th. But don’t go off and think that this is a day for bitter feelings. Apparently, the holiday is not about being anti-Valentine’s Day, rather a moment to celebrate and revel in self-love and platonic relationships.

Most of us are familiar with Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare about the two star-crossed yet doomed lovers who have come to represent romance within literature.

It was in 1537 that King Henry the 8^th, the monarch with six wives in his wake—one who died, one who survived, two who he divorced, and two of whom ended up beheaded due to the self-absorbed philosophies, made Valentine’s Day an official holiday.

It wasn’t until the Victorian era that men began giving flowers to women in order to woo them. Roses, the most common flower given on the day of love, used to be a lot more expensive than they used to be. This is due to modern flower farms in Ecuador and Columbia.

Another inspired holiday stemming from Valentine’s Day is the friendly Galentine’s Day. It was first mentioned in a 2010 episode of Parks and Recreation, which kickstarted a large trend of celebrating platonic relationships on February 14^th.

Geoffrey Chaucer, the famed author of Canterbury Tales from the Middle Ages (the 14^th century to be exact) made the first reference to Valentine’s Day as a romantic holiday in his poem Parliament of Fowls.

A common practice in the Philippines for couples who are ready to be married but are short on cash are government-sponsored group weddings. This practical solution happens all over the country on Valentine’s Day.

Two states became a part of United States territory on Valentine’s Day! The gorgeous and coastal Oregon became the 33^rd state on February 14^th, 1859, even if all the Oregon state residents were not aware of it. This is due to the slow pace that information traveled, via telegraph, stagecoach, and steamship.

Another historical event that happened on the day of love is the launching of YouTube. Can you imagine a world without YouTube? Luckily, you don’t have to. On February 14^th, 2005, three PayPal employees launched their brainchild after struggling to share videos on the internet and conceptualizing a solution.

Have you ever wondered where Machine Gun Kelly got his name? Why, it is after the 1920’s gangster Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn who was in cahoots with the infamous Al Capone.

Valentine’s Day isn’t meant only for lovers. Statistically speaking, around 20% of pet owners take the time to honor their beloved pets as well.

The heart shape seems to be universally acknowledged as the symbol of love and has for a long time, and without Valentine’s Day coming up we may have never thought twice about it.

The very first valentine note recorded in human history was sent in 15^th century by a French medieval duke named Charles, Duke of Orleans (of course the French had a hand in this aspect of love).

Can you guess who is most commonly on the receiving end of valentines? It is teachers! And of course, these hard-working educators deserve all of the accolades and adoration of their students.

Before Necco began imprinting their candy with messages, they were making fortune-cookie-esque confections that would contain a fortune inside of them. We’d wager to bet you cannot come up with one of the stranger notes contained in one of these cookies.

Each year, the messages written on candy heart change to reflect the time they are occupying. While you used to be able to chew on some “DIG ME,” “GROOVY,” and “FAX ME,” you no longer can!

It isn’t that surprising that Valentine’s Day is one of the worst nights to have a date night out at a restaurant, is it? We weren’t surprised. It sits only behind Mother’s Day as the busiest occasion for restaurants, with people making reservations months in advance.

We set aside a day to celebrate love, but it seems that it also causes a lot of reevaluating as well. Data from Facebook revealed that updates with the phrases “broken up” and “break-up” spike immediately following Valentine’s Day.

During Valentine’s Day season in the Middle Ages., women would eat a lot of odd and bizarre foods to try and prompt themselves into having vivid dreams. The reason? These dreams were supposed to reveal who their future husbands would be, and they could begin prepping for their romantic future.

The El Paso Zoo in Texas will do you a solid if you didn’t end things as amicably as you’d hoped and you’re looking to blow off a little steam. The zoo claims that it will accept messages from visitors who wish to name a cockroach after their ex.

Aside from the lovebirds associated with Valentine’s Day, there was also a mythos about birds and women. People used to hold the belief that if a woman witnessed a robin flying above her on Valentine’s Day, she would end up marrying a sailor.

Valentine’s Day went from illicit, to popular, to banned in Saudi Arabia. In 2018, Saudi Arabia shops were banned from selling red roses and teddy bears for the holiday.

Not only does the holiday of love lead to a lot of break-ups, but it also leads to the big “D” (divorce…yikes). CNN money reports that the day after Valentine’s Day, February 15^th, kicks off the largest divorce rate for the next month, spiking 18% from the month prior.

While India isn’t stringent about Valentine’s Day like Saudi Arabia, Hindu extremists in the country are vocal about their disdain for the day. Extremists have threatened to defend their rigid interpretations of Indian culture by attacking those who celebrate the day of love.

We told you about the endings and break-ups on Valentine’s Day, so how about we share the American average for marriages on the day of love? According to the U.S Census Bureau, it is quite a lot!

According to a survey of 1,000 participants put together by AskMen and Offers.com found that 90% of those surveyed felt that Valentine’s Day put a certain pressure on them to be coupled up on the holiday.