It seems that as soon as February shows up on our calendars, an over abundance of the colors pink and red start to don the world around us. Hearts are blatant everywhere, and chocolate and flowers are in high demand. It is completely obvious that Cupid’s favorite holiday is upon us–Valentine’s Day. How, though, did this day, with its explosion of love, come to be? It is actually an unclear story, but one that is quite interesting and worth taking a look at.
That everyone, is how we get Valentine’s Day. Today there is a lot more to it. How much is involved with Valentine’s you wonder? Numbers do always seem to give an accurate picture; although, numbers are not pleasant to me (I’m a communication major who hates math), just for you, though, I found some great numbers, that are, dare I say it, interesting. I guess miracles do happen. Numbers aren’t completely bad, but I’m getting off topic. Valentine’s numbers. Here you go:
- 58 million pounds of chocolate are sold during Valentine’s Day week. All that chocolate sounds like heaven to me.
- 36 million heart-shaped chocolate boxes are sold. Just be careful with these. Forrest Gump gave good advice. ” You never know what you’re gonna find.”
- 150 million Valentine’s cards and gifts sent each year. That’s a lot of postal service folks.
- 150 dollars is the average amount men spend on their Valentine’s sweethearts.
- 74 dollars is the average for women. (obviously these are not college students)
Source: History.com
Ok, if your like me, you can’t handle but so many numbers. Let’s move on to random facts.
- The top type of flowers sold for Valentine’s Day is an arrangement of mixed flowers, followed by red roses.
- The red rose was the favorite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love.
- There is a Love Valley in North Carolina
- Teachers receive the most Valentine’s Day cards followed by kids, moms, wives, and lastly, sweethearts.
Source: mydearvalentine.com
As you can see, Valentine’s gets pretty crazy. For example, I went to Wal-Mart tonight for some staple food items.What do I find, but a scene that looked like Cupid went a little crazy decorating. Flowers, hearts, balloons, etc. Not to mention, half the county was there, obviously trying to overcome their procrastination in buying Valentine’s. Is it really about all of the “things?” I’d like to think not. I think it is about showing your love, and not just to your sweetheart (Single Awareness Day observers, this should make you feel loads better). Show your love to your roommate, friend, mom (she is the important one), anyone really. Valentine’s Day was started because a group of people loved Christ so much that they died for him. So, people, let’s show some love. While chocolate is nice, love is better, and Jesus’s love is best of all.
Written by: Marisa Linton
PineBurr Blog 