Valentine's Day Facts

Valentine's Day Facts from the US Census 

"Valentine's Day is traditionally a day in which people express their love to one another by presenting gifts, such as cards, candy, flowers and other symbols of love or affection. Opinions differ as to who was the original Valentine but the most popular theory is that he was a clergyman who was executed for secretly marrying couples in ancient Rome. In A.D. 496, Pope Gelasius I declared Feb. 14 as Valentine Day. Through the centuries, the Christian holiday became a time to exchange love messages, and St.Valentine became the patron saint of lovers. Esther Howland, a native of Massachusetts, is given credit for selling the first mass-produced valentine cards in the 1840s. The spirit of love continues today with even young children exchanging valentine's cards with their fellow classmates".

Check out this site for these figures and many more

• Candy: # manufacturing establishments that produced chocolate, # pounds per capita consumption by Americans . . .
• Flowers: $ value of cut roses sold, #of florists . . .
• Jewelry: # jewelry stores, # jewelry manuracturing establishments
• "Please Be Mine": #marriages, median age at first marriage . . .
• Looking for Love: # dating service establishments
• Giving Love a Second Chance: % people remarried. . . available as pdf

for more facts and figures on Valentine's Day, check out these sites

ArticlesBase: the Not-so-mushy Statistics During Valentine's Day- http://www.articlesbase.com/relationships-articles/the-notsomushy-statistics-during-valentines-day-99897.html
Information Please: Candy hearts, mushy stories, and love poems on the Web
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/valentines-day.html
Love stamps from the US Postal Service
http://honeymoons.about.com/cs/valentinesday/a/LoveStamps.htm