Happy Valentines Day

Valentine's Day is celebrated by people in the western world on February and has become the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine's cards, flowers, choloclate or all three. The holiday is named after one of the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine in the third and fourth century. The day became associated with romantic love in the High Middle Ages, when Geoffrey Chaucer was the man of the moment and the tradition of courtly love flourished.

An alternative legend from Belarus reads more like A Patricia Cornwall thriller, and states that the holiday originates from the story of Saint Valentine, who upon rejection by his mistress was so heartbroken that he took a knife to his chest and sent her his still-beating heart as a token of his undying love for her. Hence, heart-shaped cards are now sent as a tribute to his overwhelming passion and suffering.

In Japan girls give the boys they fancy "fondness chocolate" and "Duty chocolate" and the boys reciprocate on March 14 - "White Day". In Finland Valentine's Day is also known as Friend Day and is a day of volunteering, with the Finnish Red Cross urging people to participate in various charity drives.

An estimate from the American Greeting Card Association claims that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, which makes it the second largest card-sending holiday of the year after Christmas. Apparently women buy approximately 85 percent of all valentine cards. C'mon gentlemen! Girls like to get cards more than you do.