Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
Few holidays are as polarizing as Valentine's Day. Some view it as a fun day to shower the one you love with chocolates, flowers, expensive meals and other meaningful gifts. Others feel like it's an overrated holiday that was created by the candy and cards companies.
Wherever you land on that spectrum, there's no denying that Valentine's Day at least has a very interesting history. If you ever wondered how the day originated, what spurred those conversation hearts and what people's preferred romantic meal is, then you're in luck. Here are seven weird facts about the most romantic day of the year — and some of them are pretty shocking.
Medical lozenges inspired conversation hearts
Whether you like them or not, those chalky little hearts with short and sweet sayings are massively popular these days. In an article for Delish.com, Gabby Romero says that people buy nearly 13 million pounds of conversation hearts in the six weeks leading up to Valentine's Day. But you probably didn't know that these romantic candy staples got their start as medical lozenges.
That's right — a pharmacist named Oliver Chase developed a lozenge cutter in 1847 that he quickly realized could be used to make confections as well. But they weren't heart-shaped at first. The candies started out in the shape of postcards, horseshoes and shells.
No one really knows who St. Valentine is
You may be vaguely familiar with the idea that St. Valentine was a temple priest in the 1400s who was beheaded for helping Christian couples get married. But there are actually several different St. Valentines in Christian history. In an article for the History Channel, writer Elizabeth Hanes notes that "Valentinus" was a popular name between the second and eighth centuries and several martyrs carried at least some variation of that moniker.
"Enough confusion surrounds the true identity of St. Valentine that the Catholic Church discontinued liturgical veneration of him in 1969, though his name remains on its list of officially recognized saints," Hanes explained.
It started out as a Pagan fertility festival
If you're one of those people who rolls their eyes at the cliche gifts of chocolates, cards and roses on Valentine's Day, just be grateful you weren't celebrating it in its infancy. According to National Geographic, its origins are far less romantic.
Valentine's Day started as the pagan holiday of Lupercalia, which has a pretty gruesome history. As the story goes, men would sacrifice a dog and a goat and then whip women with the animals' hides as a way of promoting fertility.
Thankfully, Pope Gelasius put a stop to that nonsense in the late fifth century and February 14 became a day of feasts to celebrate the martyred Saint Valentine instead.
Fancy meals are overrated
If you think your significant other wants a big, expensive meal on the day of love, think again. In 2020, The Harris Poll conducted a survey via Instacart that shed some light on what people really want for a romantic meal. According to the survey, 41% of Americans said that pizza was the most underrated Valentine's Day food and 20% of respondents said they secretly wished their partner would just make it for them at home.
Of course, if your sweetheart isn't a big pizza fan, the runners-up in that category were an all-dessert meal (22%), fried chicken (20%), barbeque (19%) and tacos (18%). Whatever you choose to cook, just know that 63% of Americans think the perfect Valentine's Day dinner is a thoughtful and personal home-cooked meal. That's a lot cheaper than a five-star restaurant!
It's the fifth most expensive holiday
It's funny that even though most people want to keep things low-key on Valentine's Day, this holiday still takes a hit on your pocketbook. In 2019, Digg listed Valentine's Day as the fifth most expensive holiday in America with people spending $162 on average per person. Mother's Day ($196), back-to-school shopping ($697), back-to-college shopping ($977) and the winter holidays ($1,048) were the most expensive times of the year.
So, what are people buying this year? Writing for Survey Monkey, Katie Atkinson says, "The majority of ladies are planning to pick up a greeting card and/or candy for their Valentine. Most gents will be getting flowers, candy and/or jewelry."
There's not a lot of love for Valentine's Day
Despite being one of the most expensive holidays of the year, it seems as though those cards, flowers and candies are doing little to boost people's enthusiasm for Valentine's Day. Ironically, the holiday of love is one that people love to hate. In 2021, researchers at AT&T analyzed over 1,000 posts about Valentine's Day on Reddit and found that 50% of the comments were negative, 37% were positive and 13% were neutral.
A lot of users commented that Valentine's Day felt like a fake and overly commercialized holiday. One said, "The real holiday is February 15…when all the candy goes on sale." But the reason why they dislike the holiday might have something to do with the most popular word associated with Valentine's in these threads: "lonely."
Galentine's Day is gaining popularity
Thanks to Leslie Knope, the fictional character from NBC's workplace comedy "Parks and Recreation," there's a new holiday that's been gaining popularity among women in recent years. Instead of focusing on romantic partners, February 13 — "Galentine's Day" — is all about "ladies celebrating ladies." If you need ideas on how to participate, Good Housekeeping has got you covered.
Ideas include a game night, painting, brunch and even bowling. Really, it's whatever you and your gals love doing together.
Looking for the perfect gift?
Love it or hate it, Valentine's Day is just around the corner — and if you want to share some love with a sweetheart, friend or family member, look no further than Minky Couture.
These luxuriously soft blankets will long outlast those chocolates and flowers and keep your loved ones cozy for years to come. Shop the full selection at softminkyblankets.com.
