Love Trivia

-Every Valentine's Day, the Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare's lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives hundreds of letters addressed to Juliet.

-Approximately 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are exchanged each year. One-third of all Valentine cards are accompanied by gifts. -73 percent of people who buy flowers for Valentine's Day are men, while only 27 percent are women. -Cupid was the Roman god of love and beauty and is associated with Valentine`s Day. He is usually depicted holding a bow and arrows because he inspires feelings of love. -Hallmark has over 1300 different cards especially for Valentine's Day. -The idiom `wear your heart on your sleeve` has its roots in the Middle ages. Young men and women picked their valentines by drawing names from a bowl and wearing them on their sleeves for a week. -The heart is the most common symbol of romantic love. Ancients believed the human soul lived in the heart. -Carved wooden love spoons were gifted on February 14th in Wales. The motifs were hearts, keys and keyholes. They are meant to say “You unlock my heart”. -England's King Henry VIII declared February 14th a holiday in 1537. -Red signifies strong feelings and the red rose was the favourite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. -On Valentine's eve in medieval Europe, young women would eat a hard-boiled egg and pinned five bay leaves to her pillow so that she can dream of her future husband. -The Taj Mahal, built by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan as a memorial to his wife is considered the most magnificent gift of love. -The tradition of wearing a wedding ring on the fourth finger of the left hand began with the ancient Egyptians who believed that the vein of love ran directly from the fourth finger of the left hand to the heart. -Compiled by Philaso Kaping