18 Fun Facts about Valentine’s Day That Might Amaze You

Valentine’s Day is a day for lovers. A day to take time to recognize that special someone in your
life or to take the chance with someone new. In either case, Valentine’s Day is a special day.
Ever wonder where or how the origins of Valentine’s Day came about? Here are 18 Valentine’s
Day traditions that you may find intriguing.

1. Lace is a derivate of the Latin word “Laques” which means to snare or net, such as to
catch a person’s heart. Therefore, lace is often found with Valentine’s Day decorations.

2. The city of Loveland, Colorado has about 300,000 letters every year go through their
mail system so that they can receive a special Valentine’s Day heart stamp cancellation.

3. Although handmade cards were already happening, commercial Valentine’s Day cards
didn’t start to appear until about the 1800s in England.

4. The town of Valentine, Texas was not named for any romantic reason. It was named after
the first train arrived there on February 14.

5. The difference in the sexes. A 2010 report showed that 60% of men that bought
Valentine’s Day flowers were bought for romantic reasons, while 40% of women that
bought, did so for their friends, their moms and their significant others.

6. Back in 1653, Oliver Cromwell, an English puritanical leader, banned the St. Valentine’s
Day customs after he became the Lord Protector of the Realm. Valentine’s Day regained
its observance seven years later in 1660 when Stuart King Charles II returned to the
English throne.

7. The English duke of Orleans is known to have the first recorded Valentine as he sent it in
February 1415 by sending a love letter from his jail cell to his wife. The letter is currently
being displayed in the British Museum.

8. Durex, a condom company, reports that their condom sales are generally up by 20-30% in
February.

9. Since at one time it was believed that the heart was the body organ that felt love and that
since the heart pumps out red blood, the color red, along with the shape of the heart, has
become the symbol for Valentine’s. Back in the day when Egyptians were to mummify
their dead prior to being buried, they were known to remove the organs of the deceased,
with the exception of the heart since they believed that the heart was the only organ that
was necessary for their dead along their trip through eternity.

10. With Christmas being the holiday where Americans spend the most money in cards,
Valentine’s cards come in second and are being sold at a pace of $277 million every year.

11. The production of the Valentine card and the way it was delivered all changed in the late
eighteenth century in Paris, France with the first European post boxes.

12. Back in the Middle Ages, boys would draw girl’s names and those girls would become
their Valentine. The boys would then pin the girl’s name on to their sleeve for a week,
thus came the saying, “wearing your heart on your sleeve.”

13. Many years ago on Valentine’s Day, girls in Germany planted onions in a pot. They
would then place boy’s names next to the seeded onions. The thought was that whatever

boy’s name was next to the first onion to bloom from the soil would become her future
husband.

14. The world record for the largest group kiss took place on Valentine’s Day 2010 in
Mexico City, when 39,897 people gathered for the big smooch.

15. Henry the IV of France’s daughter, Madame Royale, called her palace, “The Valentine”
because she was so enamored with Valentine’s Day.

16. There are many theories between love and St. Valentine, and yet not one explanation has
been accepted as the official theory.

17. The old tradition was that young ladies from Britain and America could predict the
kind of man they would end up marrying based on what kind of bird they see first on
Valentine’s Day. A blackbird represented a clergyman, a sparrow was a farmer, a robin
redbreast was a sailor, a blue bird was a happy man, and a goldfinch was a rich man,
while a dove meant that he was a good man. However, a crossbill represented a man that
was argumentative and if they saw a woodpecker, it meant they wouldn’t marry.

18. A single-stemmed rose, surrounded by baby’s breath, is the most popular flower sold
on Valentine’s Day. The red rose represented the flower of Venus, who was the Roman
goddess of love.