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How We Came to Send Flowers Cards and Chocolates on Valentines Day
By: Josh Grossman

Every February 14 couples send flowers buy chocolate and break out their romantic sides. Few people however know how we came to celebrate Valentines Day. They may even believe the holiday was invented by the flower and greeting card industry. In fact a history of Valentines Day through the years recounts many mysteries romantic figures and smart entrepreneurs.

One legend suggests Valentine was a priest in the third century in Rome when Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men because he thought single men made better soldiers than men with wives and families. Valentine secretly continued to perform marriages and when his actions were discovered Claudius sentenced him to death. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February about the year 270.

Another story has it that while in prison Valentine fell in love with a young girl who visited him during his confinement and who may have been his jailors daughter. The future saint cured the girl of her blindness and before his death he allegedly wrote his love a letter signing it From your Valentine an expression still common today.

We may owe our observance of Valentines Day to the Roman celebration of Lupercalia a festival that honored Juno Februata the goddess of feverish love. Annually on February 15th young men and women would draw names to partner with for romantic game playing. Early Christians frowned on these lascivious activities and tried to transform the sexual nature of Lupercalia by turning the feast of the flesh into a ritual for romance. The Church selected a single saint St. Valentine to represent the new festival. Since Valentine was martyred on February 14 the date was also changed. When the names were now drawn on this day couples began to exchange small gifts.

One of the earliest known valentine cards dates back to 1415. From his confinement in the Tower of London after the Battle of Agincourt a young Frenchman Charles Duke of Orleans sent several poems or rhymed love letters to his wife in France. One valentine card showed a drawing of a knight

and a lady with Cupid in the act of sending an arrow to pierce the knights heart.

The holiday that honors lovebirds has not always been so popular going in and out of favor throughout the centuries. The celebration experienced renewed vigor in England just prior to 1800 when publishing companies came to the aid of tonguetied romeos by distributing booklets of passages that lovers could recite to each other. Gift giving included cards that were usually hand painted and often lavishly decorated with laces silk or satin flowers (made from the feathers of tropical birds) and perfumed sachets.

The first U.S. made valentines were fashioned by a Mount Holyoke College student Esther Howland circa 1830. Her father imported valentines every year from England as a stationer in Worcester MA. Esther decided to create her own valentine messages and began importing lace fine papers and other supplies for her cards. Her Worcester valentines sold an estimated hundred thousand dollars annually!

Until the mid1800s the cost to send a Valentine through the mail was beyond the means of the average person. The postal service even demanded payment from the recipient not the sender of the letter! A hand delivered Valentine became the most popular way to declare love during this time.

The holiday suffered a popularity plunge in the late 19th century but by the 20th century Americans businesses had rescued Valentines Day by turning it into a commercial bonanza. It became common for a valentine to usually accompany a more elaborate gift of candy flowers dinner etc. Nowadays many schools even enable students to send flowers to each other to celebrate the day. Valentines Day cards have emerged to become the second biggest sellers to Christmas cards. Recently the internet has proved increasingly popular to celebrate the day as well. Now you can send an elecronic greeting card send chocolate and send flowers all without leaving the house.

Josh Grossman is cofounder of online florist Beyond Blossoms (http://www.beyondblossoms.com). The companys mission is to send flowers fresh from the farms with low prices and unique designs.

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