70 Interesting Valentine's Day Fun Facts and Superstitions

Valentine’s day fun facts and superstitions will really surprise you. Valentine’s Day is thought to be named after Valentine of Terni, a priest who married Roman soldiers despite Claudius II’s orders. On February 14, 269, he was apprehended and murdered. According to legend, an almond tree near his tomb blossomed into pink blossoms, prompting all of the birds to pick mates, hence the moniker “love birds.”

The link between St. Valentine and love has no universally recognized explanation. The letters “v” and “g” were originally interchangeable in common speech, according to etymologists, valentine’s day fun facts and superstitions. The Norman term galantin, which means “lover of ladies,” was once written and spoken valanta or valentin, from whence the name “Valentine” may have sprung.

Valentine’s Day is thought to be named after the Roman priest Valentine, who defied Claudius II’s ban on Christianity. Children would give him messages via the jail window while he was incarcerated, valentine’s day fun facts, and superstitions. He sent one more message to the jailer’s daughter, with whom he had fallen in love, before being slain on February 14, signing it “From Your Valentine.”

Many individuals buy flowers on Valentine’s Day. Roses of various colors have distinct meanings. Red denotes love, yellow denotes companionship, and pink denotes sweetheart or friendship, valentine’s day fun facts and superstitions. White carnations represent pure love, red chrysanthemums represent love, forget-me-nots represent real love, primrose represents young love, and larkspur represents an open heart.

valentine’s day fun facts and superstitions

70 Interesting Valentine’s Day Fun Facts and Superstitions

Here are very interesting valentine’s day fun facts and superstitions for you!

1. The ribbon, which is commonly seen on modern-day Valentines, has its origins in the Middle Ages. When knights fought in tournaments, their sweethearts frequently presented them with ribbons as good luck charms.

2. On this day in history, James Cook was assassinated by natives in Hawaii (1779), Oregon and Arizona were admitted to the Union (1859 and 1912, respectively), James Polk became the first president to be photographed while in office (1848), UPS (United Parcel Service) was founded (1919), the League of Women Voters was founded (1920), Aretha Franklin recorded “Respect” (1967), Richard Nixon installed a secret tapin, and James Polk became the first president to be photographed while in office (18 (1990).

3. Two youths would race through throngs of people carrying goatskin strings during the ancient Roman holiday Lupercalia (an early predecessor to Valentine’s Day). It was predicted that if the strings touched a girl, she would have healthy children when she grew older. The goatskins were named februa, which means “to clean,” and is where the word “February” comes from.

4. In the seventeenth century, a True Love Knot, sometimes known as an Endless Knot of Love, was a favorite Valentine in England and the United States. These Valentines were created in the shape of a knot, and they could be read from any line and still make sense.

5. In the United States, Valentine’s Day is a $14.7 billion industry.

6. Rebuses, which is Latin for “things” or “that which is signified by things,” are among the earliest handcrafted Valentines. A rebus is a type of puzzle or riddle in which the images reveal the card’s message. An image of a bee with a gold mine, for example, might convey the emotion “Be mine.”

7. In Chaucer’s “Parlement of Foules,” the earliest known link of Valentine’s Day with romantic love is made. “For this was on Saint Valentine’s Day/When every bird comes there to pick his mate,” Chaucer says (in contemporary English). Chaucer might have been referring to Valentine of Genoa, whose feast day was May 2, which is a more likely period for birds to be mating than February 14.

8. The “High Court of Love” was founded in 1400 in Paris, France, and is the first known formal Saint Valentine’s Day event. It dealt with love contracts, violence against women, and betrayals and was made up of 30 women.

9. As part of an Islamic republic response against the spread of Western culture, Iran outlawed Valentine cards, presents, teddy bears, and other Valentine symbols in 2011.

10. Pfizer, the maker of Viagra, sponsored an impotence awareness day in the United Kingdom on Valentine’s Day 2000.

11. Groundhog Day was first celebrated on February 14th.

12. Every year, over one billion Valentine cards are mailed all across the world. During the Christmas season, an estimated 2.6 billion cards are mailed.

13. On Valentine’s Day 2010, the world’s largest group kiss was set by 39,897 individuals in Mexico City.

14. “Quirkyalone Day,” created by a group of feminists, is observed on February 14 as an alternative to Valentine’s Day. It’s for those who want to “fight the tyranny of coupledom.” SAD (Single Awareness Day) is an alternative Valentine’s Day celebration that reminds individuals that they don’t have to be in a relationship to enjoy life.

15. In the United States, over 189 million rose stems are sold on Valentine’s Day.

16. A kid born on Valentine’s Day, according to Welsh legend, will have many lovers. A calf born on Valentine’s Day, on the other hand, would be useless for breeding. On Valentine’s Day, chickens would lay eggs that would all be rotten.

17. John Barrymore (1882), Jimmy Hoffa (1913), Jack Benny (1894), Carl Bernstein (1944), Renée Fleming (1959), and Florence Henderson were all born on Valentine’s Day (1934).

18. Young girls in the United States and the United Kingdom used to believe that the sort of bird they saw first on Valentine’s Day might predict the type of guy they would marry. They would marry a priest if they spotted a blackbird, a sailor if they saw a robin redbreast, and a rich guy if they saw a goldfinch. A sparrow suggested that they would marry a farmer, a bluebird indicated that they would marry a cheerful guy, and a crossbill indicated that they would marry an argumentative man. They would marry a nice man if they saw a dove, but if they saw a woodpecker, they would not marry at all.

19. Doves became a popular emblem for Valentine cards due to the old medieval folk belief that birds pick their spouses on February 14th. The dove was venerated by Venus and other love gods and was recognized for selecting a life partner.

20. Valentine’s Day was first celebrated in Japan in 1936 and has since grown in popularity. Only women, however, purchase Valentine’s chocolates for their spouses, lovers, or friends due to a translation error made by a chocolate firm. It’s the one day of the year when many single women would confess their feelings for a man by gifting him chocolate. The males don’t return the favor until March 14, White Day, a sort of “answer day” to Valentine’s Day.

21. Every year, about ten new candy “conversation heart” sayings are launched. “Yeah Right,” “Puppy Love,” and “Call Home” are among the most recent additions.

22. In 2005, a man in the United States was accused of planning a mass suicide on Valentine’s Day via an Internet chat room.

23. In the late eighteenth century, the first European post boxes arrived in Paris, revolutionizing the way Valentine cards were manufactured and distributed.

24. Every year, 300,000 mails pass through Loveland, Colorado, to receive a special Valentine’s Day heart stamp cancellation.

25. Valentine is a town in Texas, although it isn’t named after a romantic figure. The first train to arrive in the city was on February 14th.

26. In the late 1800s, Richard Cadbury created the first box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day.

27. Valentine’s Day is mentioned by Shakespeare in both A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet.

28. Madame Royale, the daughter of Henry IV of France, was so enamored with Valentine’s Day that she dubbed her house “The Valentine.”

29. Garters and gloves are traditional Valentine’s Day gifts. The term “garter” derives from the Old French word garet, which means “knee bend.” The term “glove” comes from the Old English word glof, which means “palm of the hand.”

30. Lace is a popular choice for Valentine’s Day décor. Lace is derived from the Latin word laces, which means “to trap or net,” as in “to catch a person’s heart.”

31. Teachers, children, moms, and wives receive the most Valentine’s cards. Every year, children aged 6 to 10 exchange about 650 million Valentine cards.

32. On Valentine’s Day, a kiss is said to bring good luck for the rest of the year.

33. A single red rose wrapped by baby’s breath is the most popular Valentine’s Day flower. Venus, the Roman goddess of love, was represented by the red rose.

34. Valentine’s Day is synonymous with red hearts. The color red has long been linked with blood. The heart, which pumps blood, was once considered to be the portion of the body that felt love. In reality, the Egyptians mummified their deceased for burial, removing all organs save the heart, believing that the heart was the only component of the body required for the journey through eternity.

35. Valentine’s Day is thought to have been originally associated with romantic love by Chaucer.

36. The phrase “carrying one’s heart on one’s sleeve” dates back to the Middle Ages. Boys would draw names of females to determine who would be their “Valentine,” then wear the name pinned on their sleeve for a week.

37. Lupercalia (“wolf festival”), an ancient Roman holiday, is said to be a forerunner of Valentine’s Day. It was a cleansing and fertility ceremony that took place from February 13 to 15. Boys would pick a girl’s name from a box on the eve of the festival, escort her to the celebration the next day, or, according to other historians, she would be his sexual partner for the next year, similar to the modern-day exchange of love notes on Valentine’s Day.

38. On the eve of St. Valentine’s Day in the 1700s, a girl in England would pin four bay leaves to her pillow and eat a hard-boiled egg, including the shell. If she dreamed of a male that night, she was supposed to marry him the next day. Girls would also write the names of boys on little pieces of paper, cover them in clay, and then drop them into the water. The papers floated to the top as the clay cracked. The girls’ initial names would foretell who they would marry based on their ability to read.

39. Christian authorities pushed boys to replace the names of saints on the tickets in order to eradicate the pagan tradition of the “Valentine” lottery, in which boys would draw the names of females and then pay special attention to them during the festival. This may have contributed to the subsequent nineteenth-century custom of referring to them as Valentines in honor of one of the famous martyred saints. The decision was not well received and did not endure long.

40. On Valentine’s Day in Germany, girls would plant onions in a pot and write the name of a boy next to the onions. They expected to marry the lad whose name was the closest to the first onion to sprout.

41. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, British youngsters would go door-to-door singing songs and even asking for cake or money to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

42. In 1415, the English Duke of Orleans dispatched the first known Valentine—from jail. He was imprisoned for 20 years after being captured at the Battle of Agincourt. The letter is still on exhibit in the British Museum, despite the fact that he would never witness his wife’s reply to his valentine.

43. Valentine cards were not commercially available in England until almost the 1800s, but homemade Valentines had been popular for some time.

44. Valentine’s Day has its origins in Lupercalia, a 6th century B.C. celebration. Roman priests would sacrifice goats and dogs during this holiday. As a fertility blessing, they would smack women with blood-soaked skins.

45. Every year on Valentine’s Day, the city of Verona, Italy, gets tens of thousands of letters dedicated to Juliet from the Romeo and Juliet character. Volunteers from the Juliet club react to each letter, and the author of the most romantic letter receives the “Cara Giulietta” (“Dear Juliet”) reward.

46. Oliver Cromwell, an English puritanical leader who became Lord Protector of the Realm in 1653, outlawed St. Valentine’s Day practices. After Stuart King Charles II was restored to the English throne in 1660, Valentine’s Day was not honored again.

47. In 2010, 25% of adults purchased flowers or plants as Valentine’s Day presents. Sixty percent were men and forty percent were women. Men purchased flowers mostly for amorous reasons, while women purchased flowers for their moms, friends, and sweethearts.

48. Esther Howland (1828-1904) was the first individual in the United States to design and sell Valentines. In 1844, she patented a lacy Valentine, and by 1860, her business had sold thousands of them, netting her almost $100,000.

49. The patron saint of loves and engaged couples is Saint Valentine. He is also the patron saint of epilepsy (which he is claimed to have had), plague, greetings, travelers, young people, and beekeepers, among other things.

50. Conversation hearts, a Valentine sweet, have a five-year shelf life.

51. Sweethearts are made in quantities ranging from 10 to 14 million pounds each year, or 4.8 billion to 6.7 billion individual hearts.

52. Robert Elton, a New York engraver, created the first American Valentine in 1834.

53. Peter Quizumall created the “Valentine Writers” books in 1823 to assist individuals who couldn’t come up with Valentine poems on their own.

54. Chocolate is consumed in excess of 58 million pounds in the United States.

55. A single male in the United States will spend around $71 on Valentine’s Day, while a single woman will spend about $40.

56. Consumers in the United States spend approximately $681 million for their dogs on Valentine’s Day.

57. Valentine’s Day is the second biggest day of the year for restaurants in the United States.

58. The Catholic Church withdrew St. Valentine’s name from the General Roman Calendar since so little is known about him.

59. Pope Paul VI withdrew St. Valentine’s Day from the Roman Calendar of Saints in 1969, while the religious celebration is still permitted.

60. There have been about eight St. Valentines throughout history. Three of them were honored with specific feast days. Valentine of Terni and Valentine of Rome are the two St. Valentines most likely to have inspired Valentine’s Day, however other academics believe they are the same person.

61. Every year, Americans spend $277 million on Valentine cards, second only to Christmas.

62. Unwanted suitors were sent “vinegar valentines” during the Victorian era. They were dubbed “penny dreadfuls” because they were the polar opposite of traditional valentines, insulting and rejecting undesirable suitors. Later, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they were sent to suffragists.

63. Valentine’s Day is seen as a day of humiliation for desire by certain religious activists in India and Pakistan. They see it as a Western holiday where people may quench their “sex hunger.”

64. The fear of flowers is known as anthophobia.

65. During the golden period of Valentine’s Day, little bits of the mirror were occasionally utilized on the more expensive and ornate Valentine cards (1830s-1850s). The word “mirror” is derived from the same Latin verb as “admire”: mirari, which means “to marvel.”

66. Some zoos offer individuals the chance to buy a cockroach, name it after an ex, and then watch it be fed to an animal like a meerkat on Valentine’s Day.

67. Cupid (“desire”), the Roman deity of love, is a popular Valentine’s Day emblem. He was initially represented as a young man who sharpened his arrows on a grindstone whetted with blood from an infant, but he is now more often depicted as a chubby baby. Valentine’s Day underwent a change during the Victorian era when shop owners tried to advertise the holiday as more suited for women and children.

68. About 25,000 Valentine postcards were rejected delivery by the Chicago post office over a century ago because the sentiments were not polite. “Vinegar Valentines” was the name given to the caustic cards.

69. In A.D. 500, Pope Gelasius founded Valentine’s Day in an attempt to Christianize the old pagan Roman fertility celebration Lupercalia.

70. Condom sales are typically 20-30% higher around Valentine’s Day, according to the condom maker Durex.

70 Interesting Valentine’s Day Fun Facts and Superstitions

70 Interesting Valentine’s Day Fun Facts and Superstitions

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70 Interesting Valentine’s Day Fun Facts and Superstitions

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