By Laura Rahill
Remember the date or sleep in the dog house.
Valentine’s Day is a holiday that can produce mixed feelings. People in relationships often have the luxury of being indifferent to the observance, while others look forward to it as long as their partner don’t forget to mark the day. But for many singletons, it can be a lonely holiday.
According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 145 million cards are sent every year, making it the second most popular seasonal holiday followed by Christmas. This figure does not include the millions of handmade cards schoolchildren will exchange.
Mass production of Valentine’s Day cards began in the early 1900s with Hallmark catching on in 1913. It was then, to no surprise, that Valentine’s Day cards were tailored to be sent beyond lovers to friends, siblings, parents and children.
Cards are not the only item that will be exchanged this coming Valentine’s Day. Other popular gifts include flowers, lingerie, champagne, jewelry and, of course, candy. Some 75 percent of Valentine’s Day candy is chocolate, but the symbolic candy hearts are always a favorite. In 2009 about 8 billion candy hearts were made — enough to stretch from Rome to Valentine, Ariz., and back again 20 times, the association said.
But well before Hallmark got into the Valentine’s Day game, the celebration had its roots firmly planted in paganism and ancient Roman society.
This holiday can be traced back to an annual pagan festival called Lupercalia, held Feb. 15. This tradition involved sacrificing a dog for purity and a goat for fertility. Young women would then be spanked with tears of the goats’ and dogs’ hinds, which it was hoped would increase fertility.
As unattractive as that may sound, the women apparently welcomed this. This festival remained popular into the 5th Century, 150 years after Christianity was made the official religion of the Roman Empire.
But in time the observance was said to be un-Christian, and so the legend of Valentine was pegged to a Romantic story of a priest. St. Valentine, the priest, would marry lovers in secret after Roman Emperor Claudius II forbade his young soldiers to wed on the grounds that uncommitted men made better soldiers. For his crimes, Valentine was put to death Feb. 14, 270.
Of course, it is impossible to confirm this legend either way, but thousands of years later the holiday survives and is now stronger than ever.
Valentine’s Day is celebrated in many parts of the world today in some way. Countries with a Christian denominations have been observing this festival for centuries. The holiday began in Europe and has spread across Western culture. In some Islamic countries, however, Valentine’s Day sometimes poses a conflict for political parties, which may view the holiday as opposing Muslim values.
The ancient myths and folklore live on in modern Valentine’s Day’s rituals. Hearts of pinks and reds, flowers, chocolates and Cupid — son of Venus, Roman goddess of love and beauty — now flaunt this legendary celebration.
Aside from the legends, here are some facts to accompany the romance:
• 220,000 is the average number of wedding proposals on this day each year. Congratulations, guys!
• 73 percent of American men buy flowers on Valentine’s Day, the same number not sleeping in the dog house.
• 15 percent of American women send flowers to themselves.
• every year on Valentine’s Day, the Italian city of Verona, where William Shakespeare’s characters Romeo and Juliet lived, receives thousands of letters to the fictional character Juliet.
• About 3 percent of people will give a gift to their true love: their pet.
• in the Middle Ages, it was said that the first unmarried person you met on the morning of Feb. 14 would be your spouse. Camping outside your love’s house does not count.
