Read this article and explore some of the interesting facts and trivia related to the celebration of Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day Facts

Valentine's Day is a romantic occasion for lovers to showcase their untold emotions and sentiments. Celebrated on 14th February every year, this festival is marked with immense, joy, fervor, galore, and passion. A day when you have the opportunity to share and spend special moments with your beloved, Valentine's Day has some unrevealed and secret facts that most of you wouldn't be aware of. Agreed, cards, hearts, cupid, chocolates, flowers, and other gifts are associated with this occasion, but do you know how they eventually turned into symbols? Millions of tokens of love are bought and presented to sweethearts on this day, but do you know which are the most popularly purchased gifts across the world? Let's take a look at some hidden fun and interesting facts about Valentine's Day herein.

Valentine's Day Trivia

A day of romance, this lovers' holiday has its roots linked to annual Roman festivals where men stripped naked, grabbed goat- or dog-skin whips, and smacked young maidens in hopes of increasing their fertility.
Before 1582, a different calendar was followed, according to which, February 14 fell on the present February 24.
The red rose is known as the flower of love simply because the Roman goddess of love, Venus, loved the flower. Even the color red signifies strong romantic feelings, which itself makes it the flower of love.
You must have heard of the famous idiom which goes as "to wear your heart on your sleeve". The tale behind this phrase takes one back to the Middle Ages, where young men and women drew names from a bowl to check out their Valentine. They would pin up the name on their sleeves and wear it for one week, ensuring people about their true feelings.
Candies became one of the earliest gifts for Valentine's Day. Amongst them, the most popular ones were chocolates in heart shaped boxes.
Still the most iconic symbol of Valentine's Day, chalky little heart chocolates are inscribed with "BE MINE", "KISS ME", "CALL ME", and other lovely phrases.
Valentine's Day is the forth holiday with the most candy sales after Halloween, Easter, and Christmas.
After Christmas, Valentine's Day is the single largest seasonal card-selling occasion.
Amongst all the people who buy flowers on Valentine's Day for their beloved, 73% are men and rest 27% are women.
"Signature Rose" is the name given by some florists to a single red rose framed with baby's breath. Interestingly, it is the most preferred option for gifting on Valentine's Day, anniversaries, and birthdays.
Over 50 million roses are presented on Valentine's Day every year across the world.
If you had thought partners or love interests received the most number of Valentine's Day cards, it's time to update your knowledge. The teachers take the credit for being bestowed with the largest number of Valentine's Day. This is followed by children, mothers, wives, and lastly, the sweethearts.
Surprisingly, pets, too, receive Valentine gifts from their owners. About 3% pet owners give gifts to their pets on this day. That makes up to as many as nine million people around the world.
Amongst all the gifts purchased, women are responsible for 85% of all sales.
Women prefer to express their feelings through a carefully-selected and wonderful card. Men, on the hand, desire to stick to the traditional means of divulging their emotions with flowers.
In some countries, young men follow the tradition of gifting clothing to young women as a sign of proposing. In case the girl accepts the gift, it is a positive sign of accepting the proposal as well and agreeing to marry the guy.
Since doves and pigeons mate for life, they are regarded as symbols of "fidelity".
Cupid, the son of Venus and Roman god of love and beauty, is another popular symbol of Valentine's Day.
Apart from Cupid and birds, the other symbols of this romantic holiday include roses, hearts, and arrows.