While Valentine’s Day may be considered by some to be just another “Hallmark Holiday”, it actually has its roots in historical traditions based on love and devotion. From all of us at PDS Planning, Happy Valentine’s Day!
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Valentine’s Day is based on an ancient Roman pagan ritual. Every February, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia, a festival designed to purify the city and promote wellness and fertility.
- Saint Valentine of Rome was a 3rd-century saint who is associated with the tradition of courtly love. He was martyred and buried on February 14th, 269 AD and the holiday that bears his name has been observed since 496 AD.
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Cupid is the god of desire, attraction, and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus and the war god Mars. The iconography of his bow and arrow represent his source of power: anyone shot by Cupid’s arrow is filled with uncontrollable desire.
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Until the High Middle Ages and Renaissance, when writers including Shakespeare and Chaucer romanticized the holiday, Valentine’s Day was a time for celebrating fertility and fruitfulness, not romance.
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Founded as a postcard company in 1910, Hallmark started producing Valentine’s Day cards a few years later.
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In 2018, the average person spent an estimated $144 for Valentine’s Day on candy, flowers, apparel, and more. In total, people spend around $20 billion a year on Valentine’s Day-related activities and gifts.
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Only about 50 percent of people intend to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Their reasons for opting out include not having anyone to celebrate with and finding the holiday to be too commercialized.
- Data from Facebook shows that status updates with the phrases “breakup” and “broken up” spike immediately after Valentine’s Day.
- Broken Heart Syndrome is recognized by the Mayo Clinic as a real, although temporary, condition said to mimic the feeling of a heart attack.