Fun Facts about Valentine's Day

• More than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be sold for Valentine's Day. A survey conducted by the Chocolate Manufacturers Association revealed that 50 percent of women will likely give a gift of chocolate to a guy for Valentine's Day.
• Valentine's Day is the fourth biggest holiday of the year for confectionery purchases (after Halloween, Easter and Christmas).
• American men say they'd rather receive chocolate than flowers on Valentine's Day, especially those over the age of 50. Sixty-eight percent of men age 50 or older say they'd prefer receiving chocolate over flowers from their sweetheart on Valentine's Day, while just 22% said they'd rather have the flowers.
• On February 14, 270 A.D., Roman Emperor Claudius II beheaded a priest named Valentine for performing marriage ceremonies despite the Emperors’ decrees outlawing them.
• “Claudius the Cruel” outlawed marriages when Roman men began refusing to go to war in order to stay with their wives.
• Another Roman martyr named Valentine was jailed and passed the time by writing love letters to his captor’s daughter, signed “Your Valentine”.
• During the Middle Ages, Europeans believed that birds chose their mates each year on February 14. Legend has it that Europeans began to emulate the ornithological practice.
• It is believed that in the 17th century, lovers began exchanging mementos on Saint Valentine’s Day, perhaps heeding the words of Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “Sweets to the Sweet”.
• A natural aphrodisiac? As an elixir for love, chocolate has been believed throughout history to bring smiles to the broken-hearted and to prompt amorous feelings in both men and women. It is believed that Madame Du Barry served it to all her suitors; Casanova consumed chocolate instead of champagne to induce romance; and Montezuma, the king of the ancient Aztecs, believed chocolate would make him virile. In the 1800’s physicians commonly advised their lovelorn patients to eat chocolate to calm their pining.