Recently, we have celebrated Valentines Day on February 14th. Here are some interesting facts that you might know. 

Valentine's day first originated in the year 496 AD from a Roman festival (Lupercalia, which officially is the start of their springtime). As part of the celebration, boys picked the names of girls from a box and became in a relationship during the festival, however this is not known to be true or not. Later, the church wanted to turn the festival into a Christian celebration by remembering St. Valentine. So gradually the festival became known as St. Valentines day. 

Valentine’s day is when lovers get to express their affection with one another with cards and gifts, but it did not come to him celebrated as a day of romance until around the 14th century. It is suggested that the festival took its name from a priest who was martyred in 270 CE. It is believed that the priest ended a later ‘from your Valentine’ to a friend which he had healed from blindness. But there are many different speculations about the true reason behind the name. 

Only in the 1500s did the idea of love letters and valentines appeared. The first commercial valentine’s card in the United States was printed in the 1800s. The commonly depicted Cupid is the Roman god of love, and hearts are used as they are traditionally the seat of emotion. Traditional gifts include chocolate and flowers to symbolises the beauty of love. The day is celebrated worldwide. In fact, in the Philippines, it is the most common wedding anniversary, so lots of weddings of couple on that date in common. The holiday has now developed also into expressing your love and appreciation to your friends and family. 

Here are some fun facts about Valentine's day: 

  • More than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate are sold annually for Valentine’s Day. 
  • The tradition of exchanging rings comes from Roman times 
  • After Christmas, Valentine’s Day is the largest card-sending holiday globally 
  • More that 6 million couple get engaged on this day 
  • Cards and gifts became popular in the Middle Ages 
  • Victorians sent rude cards on Valentine’s Day! 

So, now that you know all these interesting facts about the festival, keep this in mind next year!