The fourteenth of February will soon be here. A day for roses, chocolate, flowery greetings and boundless amour.  All because a valiant Bishop by the name of Valentinus bucked Emperor Claudius’ edict that soldiers were not to marry.  Apparently, the dastardly Claudius felt that too much lovemaking and such would weaken his army’s ability to fight the ruler’s many enemies.  Valentinus, however, thought the whole edict was hogwash, and married many a couples in secret.  He was subsequently arrested, jailed and executed on the fourteenth of February.  Prior to his death, the practicing romantic, sent a love note to his jailer’s daughter that closed with “from your Valentine.”  Hence, the start of a centuries-old romantic holiday.

During the Middle Ages, the day was linked to romance by the belief that birds look for a mate during this time. Hopeful suitors drew names from a “lot” for their sweetheart of the day, and pinned the notes on their sleeves, awaiting the chance to win the chosen lady’s affection. Hence, the term “wearing your heart on your sleeve” emerged.

In 1537, King Henry VIII, the oft married monarch made February 14th an official holiday.  Prior to that, while taking a break from his beheadings, he wrote notes to his mistress, Anne Bolyn, with one imploring her to obey the doctor during a serious illness. “I beseech you to be guided by his advice in your illness” he penned, adding “In so doing I hope soon to see you again, which will be to me a greater comfort than all the precious jewels in the world.” Interestingly, he shortened her life, and her height, via guillotine in 1536, just one year prior to making the holiday official.

Those outside the castle walls would often bestow lengths of cloth and gold trinkets to their sweethearts. This prompted both romance and the opportunity to inject a bit of fun into the dreary English winter,,  and all the beheadings.

Throughout Victorian times, most valentines were made of flat folded paper, with embossed edges and flowery illustrations.  Sometimes, printed sentiments were added, with cliched mottos of “Be Mine” and “Constant and True.” They often featured churches or church spires, signifying honorable intentions and fidelity.  It was considered bad luck to sign your valentine, making guess work part of the mystery.

We can thank the Greek mythology for the popularity of red roses on this day. It was believed that rose bushes grow from the ground when tears from Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of Love, were mixed with the blood of her lover, Adonis. Another theory is that roses were originally dyed red using a chemical called cyanine, which was expensive and available only to the most generous of suitors. Aphroditie, renamed Venus by the Romans and her lover, Mars, are said to be the parents of Cupid, the arrow wielding cherub who is frequently depicted on valentines.

So popular are roses that over 189,000,000 are purchased during the holiday each year.  Be careful with your color choice, however. While red indicates love and passion, pink signifies a wish to be sweethearts and yellow signals “let’s just be friends.”  Choose wisely to avoid sending the wrong message with your bouquet.

Candy is another favorite Valentine’s Day offering.  It’s a billion-dollar business, with over 35,000,000 heart shaped boxes of chocolates purchased for the day.  Englishman (and Quaker), Richard Cadbury produced the first box of valentine chocolates in the late 1800’s, before he made his famous eggs.  Some say his business was prompted by the advice from doctors at this time, who prescribed chocolate to cure love sickness and melancholy. Cadbury’s beautifully decorated boxes served a dual purpose – candy for eating and a lovely box for storing mementoes when empty. Easy to see why he was successful.

Casanova favored chocolate, claiming it was a powerful aphrodisiac.  Today, over 40,000 people are employed in US chocolate factories.  And the episode of Lucy and Ethel at the chocolate wrapping assembly line is rated as one of the most viewed sit coms ever.

But it’s not always about the chocolate.  At the same time Cadbury was churning out his famous confections, Necco, Inc. was creating its own candy hearts here in the US.   Producing eight billion a year, with the original 45 sayings, bags of these delights are found in most candy jars in America. It’s been estimated that if you line up a year’s worth of these colored hearts, they will stretch from Arizona to Rome, and back again. And, with a shelf life of five years, they could keep love alive (and dentists busy) for many years to come.

Which brings us full circle to Bishop Valentinus’ message of love.  Valentine’s Day is second only to Christmas in money spent on paper greetings. One billion cards are purchased each season, pleasing the recipient and the US postal service.

The first patent for the valentine was given to a woman, Esther Howland, in 1844. Eventually, earning over $100,000 annually, she became one of the very few female entrepreneurs of the time. Most of her original employees were women, who worked from home, and were paid “liberally” for the times.  Known as the “Mother of the American Valentine” her cards were fanciful and often contained intricate designs.  Sadly, in spite of her amazing works, she never found true love and marriage.

Hallmark came later, in 1913.  The Hall brothers denied rumors that they invented Valentine’s Day as a way to increase their sales, always giving credit to Ms. Howland, and of course the infamous Bishop’s disrespect for Emperor Claudius. However, their company sells over 145,000,000 of the 150,000,000 valentines sold each year, making them the biggest producer of such love notes in the country. Procrastinating lovers need not worry. Fifty percent of all valentines are purchased with in the six days prior to February 14th.  And then, of course, there are the next-day, half-off sales…

The Victorian era of secrecy didn’t last long, and the majority of valentines are signed.  It’s believed that the X in XOXO, which stands for “kiss” came about in an age when most of the lower class were illiterate.  People signed documents with and X, and then kissed their mark to show their sincerity, and respect for the Christian Cross.  The O is believed to come from the Jewish custom of signing an O, rather than the sign of the cross, for the same reason.  Others believe that the O appears to reflect an image of two people hugging. In any event, “hugs and kisses” is a popular greeting year-round.

Note that responding to a valentine is not always possible.  Consider the city of Verona, Italy, the home of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.  This town receives over 1,000 valentines every year, each addressed to Juliet.  To date, neither she, nor Romeo have cared to respond.

A few other bits of valentine trivia to contemplate:

• Teachers get the most valentines, followed by children, mothers, wives and pets,
• the average number of wedding proposals on this day?  220,000,
• the average number of weddings on this day? 6,000 (mainly in Nevada),
• Groundhog Day was originally celebrated on February 14th,
• both Bell’s patent for the telephone and Fleming’s for penicillin were introduced on this day,
• valentines and anything red are banned in Saudi Arabia,
• John Barrymore, Jack Benny, Hugh Downs, Frederick Douglass, Jimmy Hoffa (where is he?) and Florence Henderson were all born on valentine’s day,
• the League of Women Voters was created on this day in 1920, and
• Richard Nixon ordered the infamous wiretapping of Democratic headquarters on February 14, 1971.

Share the love my friends.  And remember, chocolate is good for the soul…Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.