20 things you didn’t know about Valentine's Day
- In some countries, a young woman may receive a gift of clothing from a prospective suitor. If the gift is kept, then it means she has accepted his proposal of marriage
- 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
- Women purchase 85% of all valentines
- In order of popularity, Valentine's Day cards are given to teachers, children, mothers, wives, sweethearts and pets
- Parents receive 1 out of every 5 valentines
- Valentine's Day and Mother's Day are the biggest holidays for giving flowers
- Men buy most of the millions of boxes of chocolates and bouquets of flowers given on Valentine's Day
- Valentine's Day Superstitions - It is said that the kind bird a girl watches on Valentine's Day predicts her future husband. For instance:
- Sparrow: a poor man
- Owl: remain spinster
- Bluebird: a happy man
- Blackbird: a religious man
- Crossbill: an argumentative man
- About 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are exchanged in US each year. That's the largest seasonal card-sending occasion of the year, next to Christmas
- Worldwide, over 50 million roses are given for Valentine's Day each year.
- The oldest surviving love poem till date is written in a clay tablet from the times of the Sumerians, inventors of writing, around 3500 B.C.
- If an individual thinks of five or six names considered to be suitable marriage partners and twists the stem of an apple while the names are being recited, then it is believed the eventual spouse will be the one whose name was recited at the moment the stem broke
- In Medieval times, girls ate unusual foods on St Valentine's Day to make them dream of their future husband
- 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
- If an apple is cut in half, the number of seeds found inside the fruit will indicate the number of children that individual will have
- To be awoken by a kiss on Valentine's Day is considered lucky
- 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
- Only the U.S., Canada, Mexico, France, Australia and the U.K. celebrate Valentine's Day
- 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
- In Wales the trend is of gifting love spoons on the Valentines Day with splendid carvings on it
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