INDIANA – Today the meaning of Valentine’s Day is entrenched in love and romance, bringing to mind boxes of chocolate, bouquets of flowers, romantic dinners, and heart-eye emojis. And for kids, it’s all about those creative Valentine’s Day boxes for collecting cards and heart-shaped treats at school.
If you have ever wondered who created Valentine’s Day? Even historians find themselves arguing the exact details.
The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred.
One legend contends that Saint Valentine of Terni was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.
While in prison he wrote the first “valentine” greeting to a young girl he tutored and fell in love with. According to The History Channel, before his death, he wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine,” which remains a commonly used phrase to this day.
Esther Howland sells the first mass-produced Valentine’s Day card
Esther Howland of Massachusetts is given credit for selling the first mass-produced Valentine’s Day cards in the 1840s.
She requested that her father order special materials and she experimented with crafting her own valentines. By 1849 she had created a dozen different cards, and her brother agreed to take them with him on sales calls.
Esther was hoping for $200 worth of orders. Her brother came back with orders for $5000 worth of Esther’s elaborate cards.
Esther Howland built the New England Valentine Company into a flourishing business by introducing many variations on her cards. Anticipating that customers might want to personalize the cards, she provided her vendors with a book of 131 different verses that could be inserted within most of the cards.
A simple Howland card sold for five cents but the price went up for the more detailed cards.
Walking Down the Aisle
In 2010, according to the US Census, the median age for a first marriage in the United States was about 29 years old for men and about 27 years old for women.
In 2021, the median age for a first marriage in the United States was about 31 years old for men and about 29 years old for women.
Approximately 66 percent of people aged 15 and older in the United States have been married. Of those people –
• 3 out of 4 had been married once
• Nearly 1 out of 5 had been married twice
• 1 out of 20 had been married three or more times
Bouquets of Flowers
In the 17th Century, flowers became part of Valentine’s Day traditions. Roses were especially used as they represent love in every way. Apparently, roses were Venus’ favorite flower, the Goddess of Love, as she believed that they stood for strong feelings.
Many believe the flower-giving tradition started with a British ambassador’s wife. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was stationed with her husband in Turkey and noticed the locals using different colored flowers and plants to send secret love messages to one another. She brought the custom home to England in 1716.
Giving Sweets to your Sweetheart
By the 1840s, Valentine’s Day was celebrated in most of the English-speaking world.
Richard Cadbury is largely credited with coining chocolate as the symbolic candy of Valentine’s Day, given he began selling his chocolates in heart-shaped boxes in 1861. He decorated each box by hand. The boxes were popular symbols of love long after the holiday ended and were often used to hold love letters after the chocolates were eaten.
While chocolate has symbolized love since it was used in ancient Mayan wedding ceremonies – it has been considered an aphrodisiac – chocolate didn’t become popular throughout Western Europe until the 16th century.
In the U.S., Milton Hershey made significant strides in commercializing chocolate with the invention of Kisses in 1907.
Chocolatier Russell and Clara Stover linked chocolate with romance forever with the introduction of their heart-shaped box in 1923.
One of their most popular boxes is called the “Secret Lace Heart” and is covered in satin and black lace. The Stover classic red box is still one of the best sellers on Valentine’s Day almost 100 years later.
The famous Sweetheart “conversation hearts,” the pastel candy hearts stamped with sweet phrases of love and friendship, were long the most popular and bestselling non-chocolate Valentine’s Day candy. They were introduced in 1866, even before chocolate kisses.
Chocolate, candy, and sweets were the most popular Valentine’s gifts in 2018, purchased by 63% of consumers, beating flowers and plants by 40%. All of these gifts from admirers add up – between 2010 and 2020 American consumers spent an estimated $2.4 billion on candy for their sweethearts.
