Valentine's Day Facts and Myths
The feast of St Valentine was declared right around the time when Rome fell. There were three St Valentines at the time and the pope who created the feast never explained whether he was honoring a specific one or all of them! (Meaning we were never to know where to put the apostrophe. Valentine's or Valentines'?)
In 1969, the Catholic Church cleaned up the liturgical calendar by purging the feast days of saints whose historical origins were mythical or questionable. The Valentines were eliminated.
Catholicism's rivals, the Hallmark Church, the Florist Church and the Candy Makers' Church did not accede to this decision and continued to use the day to sell sentiment-dependent products.
Valentine's Day has become a powerful engine to drive America's businesses:
* It is the second-best day for greeting card sales, behind Christmas, ahead of Mother's Day. 25% of all greeting cards are sold for this occasion, about 150 million in all.
* It is the second-best day for restaurants, following Mother's Day.
* It is the third-best day for florists, following Christmas and Mother's Day, but beating Easter.
* It is the third-best day for candy sales, behind Easter and Halloween. (And this is so close that it is nearly a three-way tie.)
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