Facts about Valentines Day

Some odd facts about Valentines Day:

Over 80 million roses are sold worldwide on Valentine's Day. Valentines Day was declared an official holiday in 1537 by King Henry VIII. Hallmark has over 1,300 different Valentine's Day cards. The first Valentine's Day card was sent by the imprisoned Duke of Orlean to his wife in 1415 The city of Verona in Italy, setting of Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet', receives over 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every year. Approximately 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolates are sold in the US every year and the US also holds the record for the biggest heart-shaped chocolate box which was 15ft tall, 15ft wide and weighed over 1,300lbs. 15% of women in the US send themselves flowers on Valentines. Teachers receive the most Valentine's Day cards every year. Sweethearts receive the least. Over 1 billion dollars is spent on chocolate for Valentine's Day in the US every year. The Roman feast of Lupercalia was held on February 14th in honour of Juno, the Goddess of women and marriage. It's a custom in Wales to send an intricately carved wooden spoon to one's love on Valentines. 3% of pet owners in the US send their pets a Valentine's card. In the middle ages, people would pin the name of their sweetheart to their sleeve on Valentine's Day and keep it there for a week, hence 'wearing their heart on their sleeve'. According to superstition, if the first bird you see on Valentine's Day is a Robin, you'll marry a sailor. If it's a Sparrow, you'll marry a poor man and if it's a Goldfinch, you'll marry a wealthy man. In China, Valentine's Day is celebrated on the 7th day or the 7th month of the Chinese calendar. The origin of the letter 'X' symbolising kisses comes from the Middle Ages when people who couldn't write would sign documents with an X and then kiss it for sincerity. Over 930 million dollars is spent on Valentine's cards in the US every year.
• In medieval times, they believed that birds and bees chose their mates on Valentine's Day and talk of 'the birds and the bees' continues today.