Valentine’s Day has it’s roots
in an ancient pagan festival

The Lupercalia Festival
Ancient Romans celebrated Lupercalia Day  
A fertility festival on February 15

St. Valentine, the Catholic Church established
February 14 asValentine’s Day

To separate the church from pagan rituals
Dedicated to the Roman, god of agriculture  
For The founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus,
it was celebrated with animal sacrifices,

The ritual; Men gently slapping women
With crop fields and raw dead goat, hide strips
dipped in blood, which is thought to help fertility

(Hence the Blood Red color was a major contributing factor to the ritual)

Medieval beliefs
lovers recited verse of prose to each other
on Valentine’s Day,  

some believed birds chose their mate on that day

  The poet Geoffrey Chaucer linked Saint Valentine with romantic love in the Middle Ages
with his poem The parliament of the fouls


Saint Valentine was a Catholic priest
in Rome in the third century.

He was known for performing secret marriages
for young couples, which was against
the emperor’s orders.

He was executed for defying the emperor’s
band on marriage and for trying to convince
the emperor to accept Christianity

Medieval celebrations
Valentine’s Day is celebrated by
exchanging cards, flowers, and gifts.
It’s a day to recognize the ties
that link people whether couples
friends or family member.

Valentine’s Day
Has its roots in an ancient pagan festival
In the 1300s it officially became a holiday associated with love

Cupid has roots in Greek mythology
You may be struck by Cupid‘s arrow
according to the ubiquitous cherub.
Origins can be traced back to 700 B.C.
An ancient Greek hero.

The Greek god of love was depleted as a handsome young man and had power
to make people fall in love overtime.

He was adopted by the Roman’s
and became known as a cherub, his image changing to the little boy with the bow and arrow because of his love inspired powers

He became linked to Valentine’s Day
by the turn of the century.

Big Business Commercialized the holiday.
A profitable venture evolved over time.
They preyed on the human heart

The tradition of giving Valentine’s Day
Flowers dates back to the 17th century

Not until the 1840s
Did we get the First mass produced
Valentine’s Day cards

Nearly 250,000,000 roses are grown
In preparation for Valentine’s Day each year. Millions of flowers are grown around the world and shipped to the US specifically for February 14.

They come from Ecuador Kenya in Columbia.
While RED is the traditional symbol of love
Other colors ; deep pink, purple and white, symbolize, happiness, royalty, and sympathy

Americans spend a lot on LOVE
America spend nearly 26 billion on Valentine’s gifts  In 2023 people spend on the average
Of $193 for Valentine’s Day

Americans send 145 million on
Valentine’s Day cards each year
Booklets were created to
Help people write Valentines

People spend millions of dollars
on gifts for their pets

in fact around 27.6 million American households gave Valentine’s Day presents to their pets in 2020
more than 17.1 million spent for gifts were for cats

American household spend estimated $751.million
on gifts for their pets on Valentine’s Day
That number grows every year..

Candy is the most popular gift to give
The first heart shaped box of chocolates was introduced in 1861

Conversation hearts
got their start as medical lozenges
( sweet tarts with little sayings on them)

But it wasn’t until 1866 that we first got
Sweet messages on conversation hearts

More than 8 billion conversation hearts are given with 45 different sayings included; true love,
hug me, and you Roc. personalized orders began to escalate, sales sword no one could get their hands on convention hearts until 2019  new words of encouragement were added to sweethearts in 2022
Way to go ,crush it , high five

It’s one of the most popular days for proposals
It’s celebrated differently all around the world
Valentine’s Day horror movies
are a growing phenomenal

XO did not always mean hugs and kisses. The Washington Post reported that symbolize the Christian cross in the letters, ended
every love letter with the sign of the cross
XO  meant sealed with a kiss.💋

Love birds are actual birds
Birds are a very significant part of Valentine’s Day

There is an official Valentine’s Day
alternative for singles

International QUIRKY-ALONE  DAY
it is a holiday for single people on the same day
.
The holiday isn’t an anti-Valentine’s Day event, but rather a moment to celebrate
self love and platonic relationships

Quirky Alone Day
has been celebrated globally since 2003.

William Shakespeare inspired the tradition by writing a Billet-doux a letter to Juliet

Inspired by tradition
four states have a city
named valentine

Although this holiday is a hodgepodge
loosely put together with no real tradition
other than rituals it has flowered into
an significant part of society culture

Inspired songs
1)Were have all the flowers gone
By Johnny Rivers
2) Valentine written by Jim Brickman
Song by Martina McBride

(I had never taught before )
I admit I was excited and nervous

My first night teaching
Was basically housekeeping
Passing out packets explaining
The rules, I was basically preaching

I looked at the sea of eager faces and said “I’m going to give you all an “A”
right now. Everybody in this classroom has an “A”in the class.!”
All the students cheered loudly
A Student asked “ what’s the catch?
I smiled and said
“It’s up to you to keep it”
The class exploded with nervous laughter

The same Student raised her hand
(an eager ******, I thought Good)
Great, my first real question
“ isn’t it time for our break?”
I was not told anything about a break
I didn’t wanna make a mistake

So I began to ad lib. the conversation
Does everybody believe
we should take a break?
Every hand went up
Yes, said a student. All the other students nodded their head in agreement.

And when are we
supposed to have our break?
Again, all the hands went up
Student said
“ about now for 15 minutes”

OK we’re all on the same page
so nobody should be late returning
Let’s take our break now.

As an adult instructor
One must exude confidence
Be Sure of all explanations and answers
And At times to finesse
The situation from escalating

While working on an
Emergency medical hotline,
If we didn’t know the answers

we had a pack phrase “
“I’m going to do a little research to make sure  I’m giving you the most up to date accurate information”.
OR
Let me check into that and I’ll get back to you.(give a call back time)
Make sure you call back
You’re only as good as your word.

To reiterate
It’s OK to not know the answer,
Never say “I don’t know the answer”
Never let them see you sweat
Fake it, until you make it
If at all plausible ad lib.