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1. The Real Saint Valentine Is Shrouded In Mystery

Although he lived in the third century AD, nearly nothing is known about this saint or the life he led. It's not even clear how many holy men named Valentine there have been, or which one is honored on Valentine's Day.

Regardless, bits and items concerning the saint have made it into the realm of legends. The consensus is that he was a priest who broke the law doing what he believed in. Some stories say he conducted marriages between soldiers and their beloveds. In Rome during that time, this was in opposition to the law. Soldiers were not allowed to marry. When Valentine was caught, he was imprisoned and put to dying for defying Roman rules.

Another story also includes his imprisonment, however this time for training his faith and refusing to worship the emperor. While in prison, he became friends with the jailer's daughter. He prayed for her, and she or he was healed of her maladies. On the night of his execution, Valentine gave his friend a note to comfort her. It read, quite merely, "From Your Valentine."

2. Matchmaking Was An Historical Roman Tradition That Preceded Valentine's Day

Lupercalia was a festival that took place each year in historical Rome between the thirteenth and 15th of February. Its purpose was to cleanse and protect the community. A number of the festival traditions were meant to do away with evil spirits and bless crops.

There was also a matchmaking component to the festivities. Women put their names in an urn. Men picked names from the urn. The couples formed by this lottery system have been expected to stay together for a year. Surprisingly, many of those random matches resulted in marriages.

Centuries later, this historical celebration merged with the newer tradition of honoring Saint Valentine on February 14. The newer holiday was much more subdued, but some of the festival's romantic features carried forward.

3. Valentine Cards Became All The Rage In Victorian England

In the Middle Ages, noblemen wrote (or hired others to write for them) impassioned love notes to their pricey ones. However it wasn't till the Victorian Era within the mid-1800s that sending valentine cards grew to become a well-liked custom.

First it was handmade cards embellished with lace and ribbon. These had been fancy cards with intricate designs that included cutouts and pop-ups. The tradition was popularized in England and made its way to the U.S. a number of decades later.

With advances in printing technology, cards began to be mass-produced. At present one hundred eighty million valentine cards are exchanged each year in the U.S. alone. Designs proceed to evolve, however coronary heart and floral themes remain as standard as they have been in Victorian times.

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