Valentine's Day

موضوع: Valentine's Day الثلاثاء فبراير 10, 2009 5:49 pm

Valentine's Day or Saint Valentine's Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14
by many people throughout the world. In the West, it is the traditional
day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine's cards, presenting flowers, or offering confectionery. The holiday is named after two among the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.
The day is most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love
notes in the form of "valentines." Modern Valentine symbols include the
heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards.^[1]
The sending of Valentines was a fashion in nineteenth-century Great
Britain, and, in 1847, Esther Howland developed a successful business
in her Worcester, Massachusetts home with hand-made Valentine cards
based on British models. The popularity of Valentine cards in
19th-century America was a harbinger of the future commercialization of
holidays in the United States.^[2]
The U.S. Greeting Card Association
estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year
worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of
the year, behind Christmas. The association estimates that, in the US, men spend in average twice as much money as women