It wasn't until 1537 that St. Valentine's Day was declared
an official holiday. England's King Henry VIII declared
February 14th a holiday. Only the U.S., Canada, Mexico,
France, Australia and the U.K. celebrate Valentine's Day.

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The first American publisher of valentines was printer and
artist Esther Howland. During the 1870s, her elaborate lace
cards were purchased by the wealthy, as they cost a minimum
of 5 dollars - some sold for as much as 35 dollars. Mass
production eventually brought prices down, and the affordable
"penny valentine" became popular with the lower classes.

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The Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare's lovers Romeo
and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to
Juliet every Valentine's Day.

The oldest surviving love poem is written in a clay tablet
from the times of the Sumerians, inventors of writing,
around 3500 B.C. It was unromantically named Istanbul #2461
by the archeologists who unearthed it.

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The red rose was the favorite flower of Venus, the Roman
goddess of love. Red stands for strong feelings which is
why a red rose is a flower of love.

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Wearing a wedding ring on the fourth finger of the left
hand dates back to ancient Egypt, where it was believed
that the vein of love ran from this finger directly to the
heart.