Valentine’s Day is the fifth largest spending event in the United States. In 2021, people spent $21.8 billion in the United States on Valentine’s Day. Last year that number rose to $23.9 billion. Candy was the most frequent gift.
About half of U.S. adults plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day. In 2022, the average American is estimated to have spent $175.41 per person. That’s a lot of candy.
Greetings cards and flowers continue to be popular gifts, as well. A special dinner is also a common gift.
Maybe jewelry. Maybe get them all to make sure you have picked the right thing to warm the cockles of your loved one’s heart.
Nearly 250 million roses are grown in preparation for Valentine’s Day each year from countries all around the world, including Ecuador, Kenya, and Colombia.
Roses have been given since the late 17th century.
The color is important also, red symbolizes deep love.
Although candy and flowers are the most common Valentine’s Day gifts, according to the National Retail Federation the most-moneyspent award goes to, drum roll please, jewelry. In 2020, almost $6 billion was spent on jewelry.
Almost $4.5 billion was spent on an evening out, followed in dollars by clothing, candy and then flowers.
Did you know that Richard Cadbury of the Cadbury family introduced the first box of chocolates in a heart shaped box in 1861.
Today about 58 million pounds of chocolate get sold in 36 million heart shaped boxes. Ironic that something so sweet got introduced during the War between the States, isn’t it?
Like many holidays, Valentine’s Day is a combination of pagan and Christian rituals. Cupid, a well-known symbol of Valentine’s Day is the Roman God of love. His name translates to desire. He is the son of Venus and Mars and is often portrayed as a young man sharpening his arrows on a grindstone.
It was business owners of the Victorian era who birthed the god’s modern day pudgy baby appearance to make the holiday palatable for women and children.
At the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius gave his recognition to the event and by the 14th century celebrations evolved to make Valentine’s Day a day of romance.
Recently, in 1969, Pope Paul VI, somewhat in recognition of the pagan roots removed St. Valentine’s Day from the Roman Calendar of Saints. He also partially made the decision because there was no clear account of their actually being a St.
Valentine.
Despite the removal, the organization still allows religious observances.
Ever wonder where the phrase ‘wearing your heart on your sleeve’ came from?
In the Middle Ages boys would draw girls’ names from a ballot in picking their Valentine and then would pin the selected name on their sleeve for one week.
The mass production of Valentine’s Day cards began in the 1840’s in the United States. Esther A. Howland, known as the mother of the American Valentine, takes the credit for the commercialization of the love cards in the country. Her trademark is the craft card adorned with lace and ribbons.
The tradition of Valentine cards changed in Paris about the same time as in the United States. It was the time of the appearance of the first European post-boxes, which sparked the revolution for the production and delivery of Valentine cards as well.
Texas has a town named Valentine. There was no romantic reason it just happened that the first train to ever arrive at the town landed on February 14.
So, like every other holiday it kind of comes back to what it means to you. For me it is a special day to point out my love for my wife. But it, hopefully, isn’t the only time in a year that I do that.
What does it mean to you?