Valentines Day Facts, Folklore, Trivia

Did you know that nearly 150 million cards are exchanged each Valentine's Day? Or that more than 40,000 American are employed at chocolate companies? Explore these and dozens more Valentine's Day facts about cards, chocolate, flowers and candy, the hallmarks of St. Valentine's Day.

Roses are red, violets are blue…”  How many ways are there to end that rhyme?  (Not sure, but if you know the answer, we can add it to our list of fun facts below.)  Impress your honey on Valentine’s Day with your knowledge of all things floral.

• Roses are valued for their romantic symbolism but their blooms are also edible.  No, they don’t taste like chicken.  Rather like the flavors of green apples and strawberries.
• The rose family also includes pears, apples, cherries, plums, peaches, apricots, and almonds.
• The rose is named as the favorite flower of 85% of Americans.
• George Washington bred roses at his home.  Apparently, pruning roses came naturally to him (what with all that practice “pruning” cherry trees as a child).
• A fossilized rose - over 35 million years old - was found in Florissant, Colorado.
• Rose hips contain more Vitamin C than any other fruit or vegetable.
• Mythology says that roses grew thorns when Cupid accidentally shot an arrow into a rose garden.
• The oldest rose in the world has flourished for over 1,000 years on the wall of Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany.
• On Valentine's Day in 2008, a whopping 214 million roses were sold in the United States.  59% of them were red.  100% of them were over-priced (see next fun fact).
• Just in time for Valentine's Day, rose prices typically jump 42% in February.
• There are more than 15,000 different types of rose species and cultivated varieties worldwide.
• A nursery will name a rose after you for a fee. To have the next rose named (not just any other name, but your name) you'll have to fork over $15,000.  (Hmmmm… the "Doug" rose has a nice ring to it.)

Looking for Love

141 million Valentine's Day cards are exchanged annually, making Valentine's Day the second-most popular greeting-card-giving occasion. (This total excludes packaged kids valentines for classroom exchanges.) (Source: Hallmark research)

Over 50 percent of all Valentine's Day cards are purchased in the six days prior to the observance, making Valentine's Day a procrastinator's delight. (Source: Hallmark research)

Research reveals that more than half of the U.S. population celebrates Valentine's Day by purchasing a greeting card. (Source: Hallmark research)

There are 119 single men (i.e., never married, widowed or divorced) who are in their 20s for every 100 single women of the same ages. Corresponding numbers for the following race and ethnic groups are:

Hispanics: 153 men per 100 women

Asians (single race): 132 men per 100 women (This ratio is not significantly different from that for Hispanics or non-Hispanic whites.)

Non-Hispanic whites (single race): 120 men per 100 women

Blacks (single race): 92 men per 100 women (The numbers of black men and women in this age group are not significantly different from one another.

There are 34 single men (i.e., never married, widowed or divorced) age 65 or older for every 100 single women of the same ages. Corresponding numbers for the following race and ethnic groups are:

Hispanics: 38 men per 100 women

Non-Hispanic whites (single race): 33 men per 100 women

Blacks (single race): 33 men per 100 women

Asians (single race): 28 men per 100 women

(Note: Not one of the ratios for the individual groups differ significantly from one another nor from the ratio for all people age 65 or older.)

904: The number of dating service establishments nationwide as of 2002. These establishments, which include Internet dating services, employed nearly 4,300 people and pulled in $489 million in revenues.

Be Mine

2.2 million Marriages take place in the United States annually. That breaks down to more than 6,000 a day.

112,185 marriages were performed in Nevada during 2008. So many couples "tie the knot" in the Silver State that it ranked fourth nationally in marriages, even though it's total population that year among states was 35th.

The estimated U.S. median ages at first marriage for women and men are 25.9 and 27.6 respectively, in 2008. The age for women rose 4.2 years in the last three decades. The age for men at first marriage is up 3.6 years.

Men and women in northeastern states generally have a higher median age at first marriage than the national average. In Massachusetts, for example, women were a median of 27.4 years old and men 29.1 years of age at first marriage. States where people typically marry young include Utah, where women were a median of 21.9 years and men, 23.9 years.

57% and 60% of American women and men, respectively, are 15 or older and currently married (includes those who are separated).

70%: The percentage of men and women ages 30 to 34 in 2008 who had been married at some point in their lives - either currently or formerly.

4.9 million opposite-sex cohabitating couples maintained households in 2005. These couples comprised 4.3 percent of all households.

Candy

1,241: The number of locations producing chocolate and cocoa products in 2004. These establishments employed 43,322 people. California led the nation in the number of such establishments with 136, followed by Pennsylvania with 122. (Source:http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/cbptotal.html)

515 locations produced no chocolate confectionary products in 2004. These establishments employed 22,234 people.

The total value of shipments in 2004 for firms producing chocolate and cocoa products was $13.9 billion. No chocolate confectionery product manufacturing, meanwhile, was a $5.7 billion industry.

3,467 Number of confectionery and nut stores in the United States in 2004. Often referred to as candy stores, they are among the best sources of sweets for Valentine's Day.

The per capita consumption of candy by Americans in 2005 was 25.7 pounds. Candy consumption has actually declined over the last few years; in 1997, each American gobbled or savored more than 27 pounds of candy a year.

Flowers

The combined wholesale value of domestically produced cut flowers in 2005 for all flower-producing operations with $100,000 or more in sales was $397 million. Among states, California was the leading producer, alone accounting for nearly three-quarters of this amount ($289 million).

The combined wholesale value of domestically produced cut roses in 2005 for all operations with $100,000 or more in sales was $39 million. Among all types of cut flowers, roses were third in receipts ($39 million)to lilies ($76.9 million) and tulips ($39.1 million).

There were 21,667 florists nationwide in 2004. These businesses employed 109,915 people.

Jewelry

There were 28,772 jewelry stores in the United States in 2004. Jewelry stores offer engagement, wedding and other rings to lovers of all ages. In February 2006, these stores sold $2.6 billion worth of merchandise. (This figure has not been adjusted for seasonal variation, holiday or trading day differences or price changes). The merchandise at these locations could well have been produced at one of the nation's 1,864 jewelry manufacturing establishments. The manufacture of jewelry was an $9 billion industry in 2004.

Data courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau

In addition to the U.S., Valentine's Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Denmark, Italy and Japan.

Celebrated on February 14, Valentines Day is the festival of love birds across the world, irrespective of the nation, caste, religion or creed. Love birds across the nation await this event desperately throughout the year. However the story of its origin is still under blurred sacks. There are different ideas to the way Valentines Day celebration began. Some trace it to Lupercalia, an ancient Roman festival while other experts associate the event with two saints named valentine of the early Christian church. One of them would secretly conduct marriage of couples by disobeying the rule of Roman Emperor, Claudius; while other was a lover of children but, was imprisoned when he would not honor other gods. The children missed him and wrote messages of affection to him through the bars of the cell. This can be considered as the beginning of exchanging messages. Still others link it with an old English belief that love birds choose their mates on February 14. Valentine's Day probably came from a combination of all the above sources, along the belief that spring is a time for lovers. Read on to find out all interesting facts about this festival.

Fun Facts on Valentine’s Day

The modern day celebration of Valentines Day is believed to begin in France and England.

Cupid (symbol for Roman God of love), doves, love birds, roses, hearts and arrows are all symbols of the Valentine’s Day celebration.

Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day around 498 A.D.

In Great Britain, Valentine's Day began to be celebrated around seventeenth century. By the middle of the eighteenth century, it was common for friends and lovers to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes.

In Medieval times, girls ate bizarre foods on St Valentine's Day to dream of their future spouse.

There was a belief in the Middle Ages that the first unmarried person (of the opposite sex) you met on the morning of St. Valentine's Day would become your spouse.

The first Valentine gift was sent by Duke of Orleans to his wife, after he was captured in 1415.

73% of Valentine Day flowers are bought by men, whereas women buy only 23% of Valentine flowers.

Around 3% of pet owners prefer to give Valentine gifts to their pets, as they are more grateful than humans.

In olden times, some people believed that if a woman saw a robin flying overhead on Valentine's Day, it meant she would marry a sailor. If she saw a sparrow, she would marry a poor man and be very happy. If she saw a goldfinch, she would marry a millionaire.

The heart is the most common symbol of romantic love. Ancient cultures believed the human soul lived in the heart and its red color is though to be the most romantic.

The red rose was the favorite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Since red stands for strong feelings, red rose is a flower of love.

The first Valentine's Day box of chocolates was introduced by Richard Cadbury in 1868.

In Wales, wooden love spoons were carved and given as gifts on Valentine’s Day. Hearts, keys and keyholes were favorite Valentine decorations on the wooden spoons that meant, "You unlock my heart!" Valentine's Day Fun Fact

 

Here is the most enjoyable and unbelievable collection of Valentine's Day Fun Facts. Share these fun facts with your friends to amaze them this Valentine Day.

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.

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.

About 3% of pet owners will give Valentine's Day gifts to their pets.

Valentine's Day and Mother's Day are the biggest holidays for giving flowers.

Worldwide, over 50 million roses are given for Valentine's Day each year.

California produces 60 percent of American roses, but the vast number sold on Valentine's Day in the United States are imported, mostly from South America. Approximately 110 million roses, the majority red, will be sold and delivered within a three-day time period.

73% of people who buy flowers for Valentine's Day are men, while only 27 percent are women.

Men buy most of the millions of boxes of candy and bouquets of flowers given on Valentine's Day.

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.

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.

Richard Cadbury invented the first Valentines Day candy box in the late 1800s.

Alexander Graham Bell applied for his patent on the telephone, an "Improvement in Telegraphy", on Valentine's Day, 1876.

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

Amongst the earliest Valentine's Day gifts were candies. The most common were chocolates in heart shaped boxes.

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

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.

Valentine's Day Superstitions

Its been said that the kind of 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 priest or clergyman
Crossbill: an argumentative man

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.

On Valentine's Day, the first guy's name you read in the paper or hear on the TV or radio will be the name of the man you will marry.

If you see a squirrel on Valentine's Day, you will marry a cheapskate who will hoard all your money.

If you see a goldfinch on Valentine's Day, you will marry a millionaire.

If you see a robin on Valentine's Day, you will marry a crime fighter - maybe they mean Batman!

If you see a flock of doves on Valentine's Day, you will have a happy, peaceful marriage.

If you find a glove on the road on Valentine's Day, your future beloved will have the other missing glove.

Where did Valentine's Day come from? (Think naked Romans, paganism, and whips.) What does it cost? And why do we fall for it, year after year? Read on.

Valentine's Day History: Roman Roots

More than a Hallmark holiday, Valentine's Day, like Halloween, is rooted in pagan partying. (See "Halloween Facts: Costumes, History, Urban Legends, More.")

The lovers' holiday traces its roots to raucous annual Roman festivals where men stripped naked, grabbed goat- or dog-skin whips, and spanked young maidens in hopes of increasing their fertility, said classics professor Noel Lenski of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The annual pagan celebration, called Lupercalia, was held every year on February 15 and remained wildly popular well into the fifth century A.D.—at least 150 years after Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.

"It is clearly a very popular thing, even in an environment where the [ancient] Christians are trying to close it down," Lenski said. "So there's reason to think that the Christians might instead have said, OK, we'll just call this a Christian festival."

The church pegged the festival to the legend of St. Valentine.

According to the story, in the third century A.D. Roman Emperor Claudius II, seeking to bolster his army, forbade young men to marry. Valentine, it is said, flouted the ban, performing marriages in secret.

For his defiance, Valentine was executed in A.D. 270—on February 14, the story goes.

While it's not known whether the legend is true, Lenski said, "it may be a convenient explanation for a Christian version of what happened at Lupercalia."

Valentine's Day 2011: Spending Takes a Holiday?

Even in the doldrums of a down economy, today's relatively tame Valentine's Day celebration is big business—the 2011 holiday is expected to generate $14.1 billion in retail sales in the United States. But that number's down from last year's $14.7 billion, because a number of consumers are simply choosing to sit this year's Valentine's Day out, according to an annual survey by the U.S. National Retail Federation (NRF).

Among those who are celebrating in 2011, the average U.S. consumer is expected to spend $103 on Valentine's Day gifts, meals, and entertainment, according to the survey—about 50 cents more per person than in 2010.

But spouses are apparently feeling frugal toward one another, and plan to invest just $63.34 on Valentine's Day gifts for their significant other—down from last year's $67.22 average.

Friends, co-workers, and even family pets will feel the love instead. Americans plan to spend significantly more on each of these groups than they did last year.

"It's something we saw periodically throughout 2010," said NRF spokesperson Kathy Grannis. "The most important thing about the holiday for some [couples] isn't giving to each other. It's providing another way to make somebody else happy and show others your appreciation instead."

Valentine's Day Gifts Go Back to Basics

Which Valentine's Day gifts are in vogue? Recession economics appear to have spurred a shift.

Practical gifts like winter clothing and accessories are way up, while just 35.6 percent of NRF survey respondents plan an evening out—way down from last year's 47 percent.

"With people cutting back on discretionary items that difference in spending between couples really lies with focusing on making a meal at home instead of going out," Grannis said.

"In this economy a new sweater on Valentine's Day really goes a long way. Somebody may not have bought one for themselves during the last three months, because they were trying to cut back on expenses or pay down debt."

Economy notwithstanding, one Valentine's Day spending statistic remains constant year in and year out—U.S. men spend nearly twice as much on the holiday as U.S. women. In 2010 the average man will spend $135.35 on Valentine's Day gifts, while a typical woman will part with only $72.28

Valentine's Day Cards

Greeting cards, as usual, will be the most common Valentine's Day gifts. Fifty-five percent of U.S. consumers plan to send at least one, according to the survey.

The Greeting Card Association, an industry trade group, says about 190 million Valentine's Day cards are sent each year. And that figure does not include the hundreds of millions of cards schoolchildren exchange.

"Giving your sweetheart or someone [else] a Valentine's Day card is a deep-seated cultural tradition in the United States," said association spokesperson Barbara Miller. "We don't see that changing."

The first Valentine's Day card was sent in 1415 from France's Duke of Orleans to his wife when he was a prisoner in the Tower of London following the Battle of Agincourt, according to the association.

Valentine's Day cards—mostly handwritten notes—gained popularity in the U.S. during the Revolutionary War. Mass production started in the early 1900s.

Hallmark got in the game in 1913, according to spokesperson Sarah Kolell. Since then—perhaps not coincidentally—the market for Valentine's Day cards has blossomed beyond lovers to include parents, children, siblings, and friends.

Valentine's Day Candy: Cash Cow

An estimated 47 percent of U.S. consumers will exchange Valentine's Day candy, according to the retail federation survey—adding up to a sweet billion dollars in sales, the National Confectioners Association says.

About 75 percent of that billion is from sales of chocolate, which has been associated with romance at least since Mexico's 15th- and 16th-century Aztec Empire, according to Susan Fussell, a spokesperson with the association.

Fifteenth-century Aztec emperor Montezuma I believed "eating chocolate on a regular basis made him more virile and better able to serve his harem," she said.

But there's nothing chocolaty about Valentine's Day's most iconic candy: those demanding, chalky little hearts emblazoned "BE MINE," "KISS ME," "CALL ME."

About eight billion candy hearts were made last year, the association says—enough to stretch from Rome, Italy, to Valentine, Arizona, and back again 20 times.

What Is Love? Evolution and Infatuation

Valentine's Day is all about love. But what, exactly, is that?

Helen Fisher is an anthropologist at Rutgers University in New Jersey and author of several books on love, including Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love.

Fisher breaks love into three distinct brain systems that enable mating and reproduction:

• Sex drive
• Romantic love (obsession, passion, infatuation)
• Attachment (calmness and security with a long-term partner)

These are brain systems, not phases, Fisher emphasized, and all three play a role in love. They can operate independently, but people crave all three for an ideal relationship.

"I think the sex drive evolved to get you out there looking for a range of partners," she said.

"I think romantic love evolved to enable you to focus your mating energy on just one at a time, and attachment evolved to tolerate that person at least long enough to raise a child together as a team."

Valentine's Day, Fisher added, used to encompass only two of these three brain systems: sex drive and romantic love.

But "once you start giving the dog a valentine, you are talking about a real expression of attachment as well as romantic love."

Why are Valentine's Day Roses more expensive?

It may be hard to believe but the increase in rose prices around St. Valentine's Day really does have merit. As retail florist we have been confronted through the years by a few customers and members of the media regarding the issue of the increase in rose prices during the week proceeding Valentine's Day. Some customers even believe that we are trying to take advantage of them by raising the prices a few days before the Valentine's Day Holiday. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The truth is that rose pricing at Valentine's Day has little to do with the local retail florist or the supply chain. The increase in prices is simply the issue of supply and demand and is an issue with growers and understandably so. The number of commercial rose bushes is the same on February 14th as it is on July 14th. Roses are a long term crop which means that the flowers are produced on established bushes. Growers cannot grow more roses only for February 14th.

What Rose Growers can do is to prune (cut back) the bushes in the late fall so as to maximize production in February. This means that their production in November and December is low and they have two months with substantially less product to sell which results in a higher price when the demand is high.

Why not just plant more rose bushes? The problem is that if the growers were to plant more rose bushes so that there was ample supply on February 14th there would be a glut market the remainder of the year. A glut market would cause the price of roses to increase throughout the year. Commercial growers must maintain a production balance to supply the needs of consumers on a year round basis as well as sufficient stock for Valentine's Day. What this means is that roses are produced for what the market can bear throughout each month of the year without the grower having to through away some of its product. Every stem thrown into the trash must be averaged into the cost of future production in order for a grower to maintain a fair operating margin.

While we are not rose growers, we understand the economics of supply and demand. Check out the price of wine lately. As the number of wine grapes has now out paced the demand for them the price of wine has begun to fall. I recently purchased several cases of a decent red at approximately $2.00 a bottle. Sounds good but it won't work for roses. Roses cannot be bottled and so a glut market generally means the roses hit the trash. We have had glut market specials in our store which offer 2 dozen roses in the summer for $4.95 and end up losing some to the trash can. Roses just aren't in demand on July 14th like they are on February 14th.

I hope this helps, we have not even begun to discuss all the issues surrounding rose production like cold winters, and what happens when the weather turns warm two weeks before Valentine's Day. Next time...