The V day will be here in a couple of weeks and those who are in love, want to be in love or want to re-ignite their love are preparing flowers, candy, cards and romantic dinner menus (I know I am). But not all is fun and roses when it comes to the 14th of February as this list attests. Here are the 10 most  shocking facts about Valentines day that will chatter your perception abut your love day.

 

1| Lupercalia

The ancient Roman festival Lupercalia (“festival of the wolf”) is an accepted precursor to Valentine’s Day. Celebrated from February 13-15.  And Lupercalia was such fun, in which men stripped naked, grabbed whips, and spanked young women in hopes of increasing their fertility.. Some pagan customs dictate that on the eve of the festival, if a boy picks a girl and then escort her to the festival the next day, she would be his sexual partner for the next year.

 

2| Beheaded on the 14th of February

Valentine’s Day may have been named after Valentine of Terni, a priest who married Roman soldiers against orders from Claudius II. He was arrested and killed on February 14 in the year 269. It is said that an almond tree near his grave burst with pink flowers and all the birds chose mates, hence the term “love birds.” 

 

3| Ironically valentines means womanizer

there is no one accepted explanation for the connection between St. Valentine and love. Etymologists report that the letters “v” and “g” were once interchangeable in common speech. The Norman word galantin, meaning a “lover of women,” was at one time both written and pronounced valanta or valentin, from which “Valentine” could have been derived.

 

4| Suicide attempts are all the rage

Research suggests that suicide attempts skyrocket by 22% around Valentines day. A understandable conclusion considering that the same research claims that 75 percent of suicide attempts are attributable to relationship problems.

 

5| The season of negative feelings

Forty percent of people have negative feelings towards Valentine’s Day. A recent poll found that one in ten young adults admitted to feeling lonely, insecure, depressed, or unwanted on Valentine’s Day. And that’s just the ones that admitted it.

 

6| Valentines cards debut in the Tower of London

The first Valentine’s Day card was sent by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London after the Battle of Agincourt. He remained a prisoner of war for the next twenty-four years.

 

7| Men don’t care

64 percent of men do not make Valentine’s Day plans in advance.

 

8| Valentines chocolate and candy

Nice shapes, affectionate colors, and tastes like crap. No exceptions.

 

9|  Valentines hating countries

Several Islamic countries warn against Valentines day such as Malaysia and Sudan. Iran and Saudi Arabia banned Valentine cards, gifts, teddy bears, and other Valentine tokens as it is considered unethical by Islamic zealots who stand firmly against the spread of Western culture. Additionally, some religious activists in India and Pakistan protest Valentine’s Day as a day of shame of lust. They view it as a Western holiday in which Westerners satisfy their “sex thirst.”

 

10|  Anti-valentines: quirkyalone day

Started by a group of feminists, “Quirkyalone Day” is celebrated on February 14 as an alternative to Valentine’s Day. It is geared toward people who “resist the tyranny of coupledom.” Another alternate Valentine’s Day celebration is SAD (Single Awareness Day), which reminds people that they don’t need to be in a relationship to celebrate life.

 

BONUS

Famous Valentines day deaths

On February the 14th 2003,  Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal died, an unexpected gift to the cynical and the religious, and a setback to the scientific body that celebrate this breakthrough couple of years earlier.

 

On Valentine’s Day, James Cook was killed by natives in Hawaii (1779). Capt Cook was a celebrated British explorer, navigator and cartographer who made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, where he was brutally killed by the native chief Kalanimanokahoowaha.

 

 

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