Valentine's Day: From Saints to Cards

Valentine's Day has been reinvented over and over, but one thing stays the same: it's all about giving tokens.
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  • 1Celebrated on February 14th,...
  • 2...Valentine's Day is a holiday where lovers traditionally express their feelings for each other.
  • 3Symbols of modern Valentine's Day include the heart shape and Cupid.
  • 4The holiday is named for two martyred Christian saints named Valentine,...
  • 5...but only became connected with romantic love in the middle ages with the help of poet Geoffrey Chaucer.
  • 6Today, giving chocolate, jewelry or presenting one's love with flowers are all customary gifts for Valentine's Day.
  • 7However, the most common present is the exchange of love notes known as Valentines.
  • 8Over time, Valentine's Day has been reinvented over and over.
  • 9It was roughly in the 1940s when the current card giving tradition began.
  • 10Before that time, Valentines were mainly handwritten love notes,...
  • 11...as opposed to the mass-produced greeting cards of today.
  • 12In the second half of the 20th century,...
  • 13...the gift giving trend extended to presents of all kind.
  • 14And finally, in the 1980s, the diamond industry started promoting jewelry as an appropriate love token.
  • 15Today, it is estimated that approximately one billion Valentine's Day cards are sent worldwide each year,...
  • 16...making this day the second largest card sending holiday after Christmas.
  • 1785% of those cards are sent by women.