Eventhough the heritage of Valentine's Day is uncertain, it has turned out to be among the most well known holidays with loving couples and particularly florists! The common symbols of Valentines Day in this era are cupids, hearts, roses, teddy bears, and terms of affection. Valentines Day is principally celebrated by grownups with the giving of handmade cards and gift items, indeed it is second only to Christmas in terms of card sales. Kids often exchange valentine greeting cards adorned with current comic and animated icons.
One version of the history of Valentines Day tells that Bishop Valentine fell in love with his jailer's daughter. Just before his passing away, he dispatched her a love letter and signed it 'from your Valentine'. An aura of love surrounded his passing away and those who knew about it retold the account. Valentine became St . Valentine with his fame extending to The United Kingdom and France.
In Great Britain, Valentine's Day begun to be popularly observed around the 17th century. By the middle of the eighteenth century, it was typical for close friends and couples in all social classes to trade small tokens of devotion or hand-written notes. By the end of the century, printed greeting cards started to take the place of written letters as a result of improvements in printing technologies.
The US was slightly slower to adopt the current notion of Valentines Day, with the trade of hand-made cards only truly increasing in the latter 17th century. Ready-made greeting cards were an easy means for many people to express their sentiments at a time period when direct expression of one's inner thoughts was not common. Less expensive postage rates also contributed to a rise in the level of popularity of sending Valentine's Day cards. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began to market the first mass-produced valentine's in America.
In Denmark and Norway , Valentines Day is known as Valentinsdag . Even today Valentine's is not extensively celebrated in Scandanvian nations (though it is growing), but still plenty of people do spend the day with their cherished ones giving cards and roses. In Sweden it is known as Alla hjärtans dag ("All Hearts' Day") and was introduced in the 1960s by the flower industry's business interests, and due to the influence of American culture.
In several South American places Valentine's Day is called "Día del Amor y la Amistad" (Day of Love and Friendship). One example is in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Ecuador, as well others. Even though it is very similar to the United States' version in several ways, it's also common for people to do "acts of thanks" for their friends rather than presenting greeting cards or gifts.
In Egypt, Egyptians observe Valentines Day on February 14th and the indigenous Eid el-Hob el-Masri (Egyptian Love Day) on November 4 to give presents and blossoms for their lovers. It has been recorded that on Feb . 14, '06 flowers worth 6 million pounds stirling were sold, which represents an increase of 10 percent of the overall yearly sale of blossoms. So fair to say that the Egyptians love it!
In Slovenia , a proverb says that "St Valentine delivers the keys of roots," so on Feb . 14, crops and flowers start to flourish. The day of love is customarily March 12th, the St . Gregory 's day. A bit curiously (to us in the west) it is also said that this is the day that birds propose to each other. Nonetheless, it has only lately been celebrated as the day of love. Another saying says "Valentin - prvi spomladin" ("Valentine - 1st saint of spring"), as in a few places (especially White Carniola) St . Valentine signifies the starting of planting season.
While the history and current expression of Valentine's Day has some distinctive types around the world, the message is the exact same. So show your loved ones some love this year with a greeting card, roses a gift or simply a phone call.
Author Resource:
Willia Robb is a freelance blogger from Auckland, NZ. Whenever she wishes to send a valentine's day ecard she uses Delivr.net.