Was V-Day Invented by the Companies?

I've had a love-hate-love-hate-hate even more-love-love relationship with this "holiday."

(Do you notice the quotation marks surrounding the word holiday?)

Anyway, I did a quick search (thank you Mr. Google) and found some staggering statistics.

190 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged annually.

Valentine’s Day is the second-most popular holiday for giving greeting cards. (This excludes the packaged valentines a lá elementary school, which are designed for kids to exchange with each other.)

Nearly 50 percent of all Valentine’s Day cards are purchased in the six days prior to February 14th. Procrastinators unite!

About 40 percent of all Valentine's Day cards are purchased by parents. (Uhhh...thanks Mom!)

And, little did I know, apparently Valentine's Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, France, Australia, Denmark, Italy and the United States.

And finally, was V-Day invented by the companies?

True...

and false.

In the 1840s, Esther Howland, a native of Massachusetts, began selling the nation’s first mass-produced valentine cards. She certainly wasn't a company, but then again, she started the ball rolling.

According to legend, Valentine’s Day commemorated the anniversary of the death of St. Valentine, a Roman clergyman who was executed on Feb. 14, about 270 A.D., for secretly marrying couples in defiance of the emperor. And ccording to another, the holiday began as a Roman fertility festival. Americans probably began exchanging handmade valentines in the early 1700s.

For those who celebrate this joyous "holiday," I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day. And, for those who prefer to treat today like any other day of the week, go you! Have an awesome Thursday!

Now, I'm off to a romantic dinner and movie with my boyfriend..and little sister!