Happy Valentines Day!!: By Jessica

Happy Valentines Day! I can't believe that it's already the middle of February! Well Valentines Day isn't a huge deal for me and my family. We usually carry on with our normal routine. For a lot of people Valentines day means flowers, chocolates, and love. I'm single so I don't run into any of the hassle of preparing for Valentines day (which is actually pretty nice). Here is a funny video I found about Valentines day which I think you'll enjoy.

Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmphdDjLCww 

Here is a quick background on the history of Valentines Day.

Like many holidays Valentines Day took the place of a pagan holiday called Lupercalia. The pagan holiday celebrated fertility. The christians chose to have there own Christian holiday called St. Valentines Day. There were many priests named St. Valentines. One was executed for marrying couples in private because it was against the law, since the emperor thought that single soldiers made better, stronger, soldiers. Valentines Day was not associated with love until the 1300's. 

In Europe the tradition of sending letters started and was caught on by America. Cards started to be produced and sold in the 1800's and now over 1 billion Valentines cards are sold annually, making it the most popular sold card besides Christmas. 35 million chocolate boxes are sold and 220 million roses are purchased. over 20 billion dollars are spent during Valentines Day every year. Also 6 million couples get engaged each year. 

Here are some Valentines Cards from the 1800's 

Here is a video where I got my information…I learned a lot and its only a couple minutes long so I suggest you check it out: 

http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day

Anna already did an amazing post about love last week so I don't need to cover that (don't forget to read it!). 

I hope that you enjoyed this post and Valentines Day!

- Jessica