Did you know?//Random facts book

Valentine's day

1. Passing out Valentines is a 600-year-old tradition.
Each year, kids in classrooms across America hand out Valentine's Day cards to their classmates. According to History.com, the oldest record of a valentine was a poem Charles Duke of Orleans wrote to his wife when he was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1415.

2. Wearing your heart on your sleeve is more than just a phrase.
In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names to see who their Valentine would be, the LA Times reports. According to Smithsonian, they would wear the name pinned to their sleeve for one week so that everyone would know their supposed true feelings.

3. The heart shape wasn't always a romantic symbol.
According to Time, the heart was once widely believed to be humans' center of memory, where feelings of love were recorded. However, we have French and Italian artists from the 14th century to thank for the symbol that we know and love today, as they were the first ones to start using this motif in their work.

4. February 14th is the second largest card giving day of the year, just after Christmas.

5. Every year, around 9 million people buy their pets a Valentine's Day gift.

6. Americans send 141 million Valentine's Day cards each year.

7. On Valentine's Day 2010, 39,897 people in Mexico City broke the record for the world's largest group kiss.

8. The symbol of the ribbon, which often adorns modern-day Valentines, is rooted in the Middle Ages. When knights competed in tournaments, their sweethearts often gave them ribbons for good luck.

9. Lace is often used on Valentine decorations. The word "lace" comes from the Latin laques, meaning "to snare or net," as in to catch a person's heart.

10. On Valentine's Day, nearly 189 million stems of roses are sold in the U.S alone.

11. Famous people born on Valentine's Day include John Barrymore (1882), Jimmy Hoffa (1913), Jack Benny (1894), Carl Bernstein (1944), Renée Fleming (1959), and Florence Henderson (1934).

12. A kiss on Valentine's Day is considered to bring good luck all year.

13. Teachers receive the most Valentine's cards, followed by children, mothers, and wives. Children between the ages of 6-10 exchange more than 650 million Valentine cards a year.

14. Richard Cadbury produced the first box of chocolates for Valentine's Day in the late 1800s.

15. On Valentine's Day, many people buy flowers. Different colored roses have different meanings. Red means love, yellow means friendship, and pink means friendship or sweetheart. Red carnations mean admiration, white carnations mean pure love, red chrysanthemums mean love, forget-me-nots mean true love, primrose means young love, and larkspur means an open heart.

16. There is a town in Texas called Valentine, but for not for a romantic reason. The first train to arrive there happened to do so on February 14.

17. According to Welsh tradition, a child born on Valentine's Day would have many lovers. A calf born on Valentine's Day, however, would be of no use for breeding purposes. If hens were to hatch eggs on Valentine's Day, they would all turn out rotten.

18. The first European post boxes appeared in Paris in the late eighteenth century, which revolutionized the way Valentine cards were produced and delivered.

19. Valentine candy "conversation hearts" have a shelf life of five years.

20. Anthophobia is the fear of flowers.

21. Juliet still gets love letters sent to her on Valentine's Day

William Shakespeare's most famous romance Romeo and Juliet has captured hearts for decades – so much so that Juliet still receives love letters on Valentine's Day! Every year, the city of Verona in Italy (where the play was set) receives around 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet.

22. On February 14, Finland celebrates Ystavanpaiva which is translated as 'Friends Day'. Gifts and cards are given and received but by friends rather than lovers.

That's all for this chapter I hope you all had a good Valentine's Day.

See you in the next chapter!

Baiiiiiiiiiii