- In the two week period leading up to Valentine’s Day, American sales of gold jewelry lead to 34 million metric tons of waste.
- The vast majority of roses sold for Valentine’s Day in the U.S. are imported from South America, wasting fossil fuels.
- Valentine’s Day traces its roots to an ancient pagan holiday called Lupercalia, in which men stripped naked, grabbed whips, and spanked young women in hopes of increasing their fertility.
- The Christian martyr St. Valentine was beheaded on February 14 for performing marriages in secret.
- Research suggests that 75 percent of suicide attempts are attributable to relationship problems.
- 46 percent of Americans will exchange Valentine’s Day candy.
- 67 percent of Americans are overweight or obese.
- The first Valentine’s Day card was sent by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He remained a prisoner of war for the next twenty-four years.
- A recent poll found that one in ten young adults admitted to feeling lonely, insecure, depressed, or unwanted on Valentine’s Day. And that’s just the ones that admitted it.
- Forty percent of people have negative feelings towards Valentine’s Day.
- The famous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, in which seven Chicago gangsters were gunned down on February 14, 1929, was one of the bloodiest in mob history.
- 64 percent of American men do not make Valentine’s Day plans in advance.
- Candy hearts taste like crap.
- Even if you’re really, really in love right now, you’re still going to die eventually.
