Brain Candy Valentine's Trivia
15% of U.S. women send themselves flowers on Valentine's
Day.
73% of people who buy flowers for Valentine's Day
are men, while only 27 percent are women.
About 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are exchanged
each year. That's the largest seasonal card-sending occasion of
the year, next to Christmas.
About 3% of pet owners will give Valentine's Day gifts
to their pets.
Alexander Graham Bell applied for his patent on the
telephone, an "Improvement in Telegraphy", on Valentine's Day, 1876.
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.
Cupid, another symbol of Valentines Day, became associated
with it because he was the son of Venus, the Roman god of love and
beauty. Cupid often appears on Valentine cards holding a bow and
arrows because he is believed to use magical arrows to inspire feelings
of love.
During the late 1800s, postage rates around the world
dropped, and the obscene St. Valentine's Day card became popular,
despite the Victorian era being otherwise very prudish. As the numbers
of racy valentines grew, several countries banned the practice of
exchanging Valentine's Days cards. During this period, Chicago's
post office rejected more than 25,000 cards on the grounds that
they were so indecent, they were not fit to be carried through the
U.S. mail.
During the Middle Ages, the belief that birds chose
their mates on St. Valentine's Day led to the idea that boys and
girls would do the same. Up through the early 1900s, the Ozark hill
people in the eastern United States thought that birds and rabbits
started mating on February 14, a day for them which was not only
Valentine's Day but Groundhog Day as well.
February 14, 270 A.D. : Roman Emperor Claudius II,
dubbed "Claudius the Cruel," beheaded a priest named Valentine for
performing marriage ceremonies. Claudius II had outlawed marriages
when Roman men began refusing to go to war in order to stay with
their wives.
Hallmark has over 1330 different cards specifically
for Valentine's Day.
Humorous valentines of the 19th century were called
"Vinegar Valentines" or "Penny Dreadfuls." Vinegar Valentines were
introduced in 1858 by John McLaughin, a Scotsman with a New York
City Publishing Business. Penny Dreadfuls with comic designs drawn
in 1870 by American cartoonists Charles Howard became known as Penny
Dreadfuls.
In 1929 in Chicago, gunmen in the suspected employment
of organized-crime boss Al Capone murder seven members of the George
"Bugs" Moran North Siders gang in a garage on North Clark Street.
The so-called St. Valentine's Day Massacre stirred a media storm
centered on Capone and his illegal Prohibition-era activities and
motivated federal authorities to redouble their efforts to find
evidence incriminating enough to take him off the streets.
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.
In the United States, 64 percent of men do not make
plans in advance for a romantic Valentine's Day with their sweethearts.
In Victorian times it was considered bad luck to sign
a Valentine's Day card.
In Wales, wooden love spoons were carved and given
as gifts on February 14th. Hearts, keys and keyholes were favorite
decorations on the spoons. The decoration meant, "You unlock my
heart!"
It wasn't until 1537 that St. Valentine's Day was
declared an official holiday. England's King Henry VIII declared
February 14th a holiday.
On February 14, 1779, Captain James Cook, the great
English explorer and navigator, was murdered by natives of Hawaii
during his third visit to the Pacific island group.
One single perfect red rose framed with baby's breath
is referred to by some florists as a "signature rose," and is the
preferred choice for many for giving on Valentine's Day, anniversary,
or birthday.
Only the U.S., Canada, Mexico, France, Australia and
the U.K. celebrate Valentine's Day.
Sir Alexander Fleming was a young bacteriologist when
an accidental discovery led to one of the great developments of
modern medicine. Having left a plate of staphylococcus bacteria
uncovered, Fleming noticed that a mold that had fallen on the culture
had killed many of the bacteria. He identified the mold as penicillium
notatum, similar to the kind found on bread. On February 14, 1929,
Fleming introduced his mold by-product called penicillin to cure
bacterial infections.
Some people used to believe 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.
Teachers will receive the most Valentine's Day cards,
followed by children, mothers, wives, and then, sweethearts. Children
ages 6 to 10 exchange more than 650 million Valentine's cards with
teachers, classmates, and family members.
The "I Love You" computer virus was detected in Hong
Kong on May 1, 2000. In four days the virus had mutated into three
different generations. Figures by Trend Micro Inc. showed that "I
Love You" had infected 3.1 million computers worldwide.
The 17th century a hopeful maiden ate a hard-boiled
egg and pinned five bay leaves to her pillow before going to sleep
on Valentine's eve. It was believed this would make her dream of
her future husband.
The ancient Romans celebrated the Feast of Lupercalia
in honor of Juno, the queen of the Roman gods and goddesses on February
14. Juno was also the goddess of women and marriage.
The Empire State Building in New York City played
a prominent role in the movie Sleepless in Seattle. This year 15
couples will take (or renew) their vows on the 80th floor of this
famous landmark.
The first American publisher of valentines was printer
and artist Esther Howland. During the 1870s, her elaborate lace
cards were purchased by the wealthy, as they cost a minimum of 5
dollars - some sold for as much as 35 dollars. Mass production eventually
brought prices down, and the affordable "penny valentine" became
popular with the lower classes.
The first photograph of a U.S. President was taken
on February 14, 1849 by Matthew Brady in New York City. President
James Polk was the subject of the famous picture. .
The first televised tour of the White House aired
on February 14 in 1962. First Lady Jackie Kennedy hosted the tour.
The heart is the most common symbol of romantic love.
Ancient cultures believed the human soul lived in the heart. Others
thought it to be the source of emotion and intelligence. Some believed
the heart embodied a man's truth, strength and nobility. The heart
may be associated with love because the ancient Greeks believed
it was the target of Eros, known as Cupid to the Romans. Anyone
shot in the heart by one of Cupid's arrows would fall hopelessly
in love. Because the heart is so closely linked to love, it's red
colour is thought to be the most romantic.
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.
The Kama Sutra is believed to be the oldest sex manual
in existence. Generally considered the standard work on love in
Sanskrit literature, the book is thought to have been written around
300 A.D.
The most fantastic gift of love is the Taj Mahal in
India. It was built by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan as a memorial to
his wife, who died in childbirth. Work on the Taj began in 1634
and continued for almost 22 years. required the labor of 20,000
workers from all over India and Central Asia.
The oldest known Valentines were sent in 1415 A.D.
by the Duke of Orleans to his French wife while he was imprisoned
in the Tower of London. It is still on display in a museum in England.
The oldest surviving love poem is written in a clay
tablet from the times of the Sumerians, inventors of writing, around
3500 B.C. It was unromantically named Istanbul #2461 by the archeologists
who unearthed it.
The red rose was the favorite flower of Venus, the
Roman goddess of love. Red stands for strong feelings which is why
a red rose is a flower of love.
Valentine's Day is big business. Consumers will spend
an average of $77.43 on Valentine's Day gifts this year. E-commerce
retailers expect to rack up about $650 million in sales of food,
candy, flowers, and other Valentine's Day gifts. Of that amount
about $350 million will be for gifts and flowers and another $45
million will be spent on food (including chocolate) and wine.
Wearing a wedding ring on the fourth finger of the
left hand dates back to ancient Egypt, where it was believed that
the vein of love ran from this finger directly to the heart.
A ring has been included in wedding ceremonies since
the 12th century. Pope Innocent the Third ordained that marriages
had to take place in church and that a wedding ring should be exchanged
during the service.
In England, the Romans, who had taken over the country,
had introduced a pagan fertility festival held every February 14.
After the Romans left England, nearly a century later, the pagan
ritual was abolished by Pope Gelsius who established St. Valentine's
Day as a celebration of love in 496 A.D.
In America, the pilgrims sent confections, such as
sugar wafers, marzipan, sweetmeats and sugar plums, to their betrothed.
Great value was placed on these gifts because they included what
was then a rare commodity, sugar. After the late 1800's, beet sugar
became widely used and more available, and sweet gifts continued
to be valued and enjoyed.
Chocolate manufacturers currently use 40 percent of
the world's almonds and 20 percent of the world's peanuts.
|
