The term ‘wearing your heart on your sleeve’ was believed to be stemmed from the tradition of a man picking the name of his ‘Valentine’ from a bowl and then wearing that piece of paper with the name on his sleeve for a week.
Cupid was believed to be the son of the Goddess Venus and he had fallen in love with Psyche, a human. His jealous mother had put Psyche into a deep slumber, but Cupid travelled to Earth and his love for Psyche dispelled the enchantment and he shot an arrow to her heart to wake her up.
It was tradition in the 1700′s in England for women to write the names of the men they knew in tiny pieces of paper and roll the paper up inside little balls of clay and then throw it into water. The first name that popped up would be the woman’s true love.
It was a popular belief that if women ran around in the graveyard reciting a specific chant that the image of their true love would pop up.
Another idea was that on Valentine’s Day if a woman sat by the window, the first available man to walk past would be her destined one.
In 1929 on Valentine’s day seven men were gunned down in a Chicago garage by a group of men believed to be Al Capone’s gang. This event was forever known as the ‘St. Valentine’s Day massacre’.
A study revealed that on Valentine’s Day 3% of all pet owners buy a Valentine’s day gift for their pets.
In Finland Valentine’s Day is called Ystävänpäivä which translates into “Friend’s day”. As the name indicates, this day is more about remembering all your friends, not only your loved ones.
In ancient times, according to Jewish tradition, on Valentine’s day women would dress up in white and dance in the vineyards where the men would be waiting for them.
In Japan and South Korea women give men chocolates on February 14th, men give women non-chocolate candy on March 14th and those who didn’t receive anything on both February and March 14th go to a Chinese restaurant on April 14th and eat black noodles to ‘mourn’ for their single life.
In Japan all women are obliged to give their male co-workers chocolates and this was termed giri-choko meaning ‘obligation chocolates.’ Honmei-choko on the other hand means ‘favourite chocolate’ and is given only to loved ones. Friends exchange chocolates known as tomo-choko, ‘tomo’ meaning friend.
In order of popularity, Valentine’s Day cards are given to teachers, children, mothers, wives, sweethearts and pets.
Parents receive 1 out of every 5 valentines
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.
Valentine’s day superstitions:
- On Valentine’s Day, the first guy’s name you read in the paper or hear on the TV or radio will be the name of the man you will marry.
- If you see a squirrel on Valentine’s Day, you will marry a cheapskate who will hoard all your money.
- If you see a goldfinch on Valentine’s Day, you will marry a millionaire.
- If you see a robin on Valentine’s Day, you will marry a crime fighter – maybe they mean Batman!
- If you see a flock of doves on Valentine’s Day, you will have a happy, peaceful marriage.
- If you find a glove on the road on Valentine’s Day, your future beloved will have the other missing glove.
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