Few people have missed acknowledging Valentine's Day at some point in their lives. Whether through those sweet, innocent, handmade cards in elementary school or those painful adolescent infatuations or adult relationships that were meant to last forever, we all have our own Valentine’s Day to remember.
Numerous legends abound regarding Valentine’s Day and how it all began. Who was St. Valentine?  One account describes him as a martyred Roman priest who was killed February 14th, 269 AD for protecting Christians. While in prison, he supposedly sent messages to friends reminding them of his love and imploring them to remember their Valentine.
Another story indicates that Valentine was a priest who secretly married couples, defying the Emperor Claudius who had temporarily forbidden marriages. Yet another story claims he was jailed for refusing to worship pagan gods, befriended the jailer's daughter, and left her a love knot on the day of his execution, which was apparently February 14.
There is also reference to remembering Valentine on the day after the Roman Feast of Lupercalia, a pagan love festival. In 496 A.D, Pope Gelasius changed Lupercalia from the 15th to the 14th to try to stop the pagan festival. The church realized that there was nothing wrong with celebrating love, and that only the pagan elements were wrong. So Valentine became known as the patron of love.

            
• In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their Valentines would be. They wore those names on their sleeves for one week. To wear your heart on your sleeve now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling.

• In the 17th century, a hopeful maiden ate a hard-boiled egg and pinned five bay leaves to her pillow before going to sleep on Valentine’s eve. It was believed this would make her dream of her future husband.

• It wasn’t until 1537 that St. Valentine’s Day was declared an official holiday. England’s King Henry VIII declared February 14th a holiday.


• Cupid is associated with Valentine’s Day because he is believed to be the son of Venus, the Roman god of love and beauty.

• The heart is associated with Valentine’s Day as it is considered the source of all human emotions.

• The red rose was a favorite flower of Venus.  All over the world, over 50 million roses are given for Valentine’s Day each year.

• The State of California produces 60 percent of American roses, but most roses sold on Valentine’s Day in the U.S. are imported from South America.

• 73 percent of people who buy flowers for Valentine’s Day are men; only 27  percent are women.

• About 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged each year. Valentine’s Day is the second-largest seasonal card-sending occasion of the year, after Christmas.

• Those who receive the most Valentine’s Day cards are (in order): teachers, kids, moms, wives and sweethearts.

• Hallmark makes over 1,330 different cards for Valentine’s Day.

• Candy hearts (the ones with sweet messages printed on them) were first made in 1866 by candy maker NECCO; in those days, they were called Motto Hearts. According to NECCO, 8 billion of these little candies are sold between January 1 and February 14.

• More than 35 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be sold for Valentine’s Day this year.

• 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.

• Today, chocolate manufacturing tops $14 billion annually with February being the “unofficial” high-sales month for the confection most synonymous with love.

• There are towns called Valentine in Texas and Nebraska.