With our main winter holidays already over, the next national holiday we get to look forward to is Valentine’s Day, so in honor of it coming up let’s take a look at fun facts about Valentine’s Day. While Valentine’s Day is thought to be specifically designated for couples to celebrate their love, we also use this holiday as a way to show our friends, family and even pets how much we love them. It is a beautiful day filled with love and romance, so as women how can we not enjoy it? So let’s take a look at some of the interesting facts about Valentine’s Day.
1. ORIGIN OF VALENTINE’S DAY
While there are many different versions of how Valentine’s Day came about, the one that I am going to talk about takes place during the reign of Claudius II, 270 A.D. Claudius was against his men getting married during wartime because he believed that they were stronger and more capable of fighting when single. However, Bishop Valentine went against Claudius and married couples in secret. For this crime, he was jailed and then executed on February 14 but before his death, he wrote a love letter and signed it using these words “From You Valentine”! This is just one of the many interesting facts about Valentine’s Day, so keep on reading.
2. XX
I think it is universally known that Xs are associated with kisses, but how did this notion come about? Many believe that the association started during the medieval times. People who were not able to write their names signed before a witness with an X and then kissed it to show their sincerity.
3. VALENTINE’S DAY DURING MEDIEVAL TIMES
It is said that girls during the Medieval times would eat bizarre foods on Valentine’s Day in order to make themselves dream of their future husband. In addition to that atypical tradition, young men and women would also draw names from a bowl to see who would be their Valentine. They would later wear their Valentine’s name on their sleeve. Is this where the expression ‘to wear your heart on your sleeve’ came from?
4. RED ROSES
Red roses are a national symbol for love and affection. It might be due to the fact that roses are the favorite flower of Venus, who is the Roman goddess of love. So you can only guess what type of flowers tend to sell out at the speed of light on Valentine’s Day! In fact, 189 million roses are sold just in the US on this national holiday.
5. VALENTINE’S DAY KISS
Back in 2011 on Valentine’s Day, 14 couples entered a competition in Thailand for the longest kiss. The rules of the competition stated that contestants couldn’t sit, sleep or separate or else they would be disqualified. Only a half-hour into the competition and one of them fainted! However the winning couple lasted for about 46 hours and 24 minutes. They earned a diamond ring, 3,200 dollars and of course the title for the longest kiss.
6. CHOCOLATE HEALS
Back in the 1800s doctors commonly advised their patients to eat chocolate to get over a broken heart. They claimed that it would soothe their pain and calm their longing for their first love. It is really funny, because to this day women find comfort in chocolate whenever heartbreak comes about!
7. DECLARED AS A NATIONAL HOLIDAY
Valentine’s Day was not an official holiday until King Henry VII of England declared February 14th as the holiday of St. Valentine’s Day. Now places all over the world celebrate it as one of their national holidays. Let’s thank King Henry for giving us an excuse to get spoiled with chocolate and flowers!
Valentine’s Day is one of the happiest days of the year, when people come together to celebrate the greatest feeling that we call love. Don’t worry if you are single because this holiday is about all different kinds of love. So how will you be spending this Valentine’s Day?
(Via AllwomenStalk)
