I Can’t Sleep - Valentine’s Day | Gentle Reading for Peaceful Sleep

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

Drift off with this calm bedtime reading as Benjamin explores the history and traditions of Valentine’s Day, helping you relax and ease insomnia. You’ll learn how this holiday evolved from ancient customs into the celebration of love we know today, with stories of saints, legends, and cultural practices across the world. Benjamin’s soothing cadence makes even the details of history feel peaceful, guiding your mind away from stress and into rest. No whispering or hypnosis—just gentle, fact-filled storytelling to help you settle into sleep tonight. Want More? Request a Topic: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/request-a-topic Ad-Free Episodes: https://icantsleep.supportingcast.fm/ Shop Sleep-Friendly Products: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/sponsors Join the Discussion on Discord: https://discord.gg/myhGhVUhn7 This content is derived from the Wikipedia article on Valentine’s Day, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. Read the full article: Wikipedia – Valentine’s Day. Happy sleeping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to a Glassbox media podcast. What if I told you that most of the modern day self-help advice you've been hearing could actually make you worse? The key to a better life isn't about feel-good gimmicks that sound catchy. The Mentally Stronger Podcast gives you access to a licensed therapist who shares science-backed tools that will actually change your life. Hi, I'm Amy Morin, psychotherapist, mental strength trainer, and international best-selling author. In each episode, we cover research-back strategies, like how to stop relying on willpower and start creating habits for lasting change. And the five mental strength-building exercises you can do from your couch.

I also speak to world-class experts like Dr. Nicole Kane, who shares how to permanently heal anxiety by addressing the root cause. With over 200 episodes in our catalog, this podcast is for you if you're ready to crush self-doubt, conquer challenges, and become stronger than ever with therapist-approved strategies that can change your life. Listen to Mentally Stronger with Therapist Amy Morin, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast, where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster. Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day, also called St. Valentine's Day, or the Feast of St. Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14th. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine, and through later folk traditions, it has also become a significant cultural, religious, and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world. There are a number of martyrdom. stories associated with various St. Valentine's connected to February 14th, including an account

of the imprisonment of St. Valentine of Rome, for ministering to Christians persecuted under the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. According to an early tradition, St. Valentine restored sight to the blind daughter of his jailer. Numerous later additions to the legend have better related it to the theme of love. Tradition maintains that St. Valentine performed weddings for Christian soldiers who were forbidden to marry by the Roman Emperor. An 18th century embellishment to the legend claims he wrote the jailer's daughter a letter signed, Your Valentine, as a farewell before his execution. The 8th century Jalazen Sacramentary recorded the celebration of the feast of St. Valentine on February 14th. The day became associated with romantic love in the 14th and 15th

centuries when notions of courtly love flourished, apparently by association with the lovebirds of early spring. In 8th century, England, it grew into an occasion for couples to express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards, known as Valentine's. Valentine's Day's symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. In the 19th century, handmade cards gave way to mass-produced greetings. In Italy, St. Valentine's keys are given to lovers as a romantic symbol and an invitation to unlock the giver's heart, as well as to children to ward off epilepsy, called St. Valentine's Melody.

St. Valentine's Day is not a public holiday in any country, although it is an official feast day in the Anglican Communion and the Lutheran Church. Many parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrate St. Valentine's Day on July 6th, in honor of Roman Presbyter Saint Valentine, and on July 30th in honor of Hiramarder Valentine, the Bishop Ivin Teramna, modern Tierney. Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. The Valentine's honored on February 14th are Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Turney. Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred in 269 and was buried on the Via Flamina.

The relics of St. Valentine were kept in the church and catacombs of St. Valentino in Rome, which remained an important pilgrim site throughout the Middle Ages until the relics of St. Valentine were transferred to the Church of Santa Praseta during the pontificate of Nicholas IV. The flower-crowned skull of St. Valentine is exhibited in the basilica of Santa Maria in Cousmadin, Rome. Other relics are found at Whitefriar Street, Carmelite Church, in Dublin, Ireland. Valentine of Turney became Bishop of Interamna, now Turney in central Italy, and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Orelian in 273.

He is buried on the Via Flamenia, but in a different location from Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of St. Valentine and Turney. Professor Jack B. Orich of the University of Kansas notes that abstracts of the acts of the two saints were in nearly every church and monastery of Europe. A relic claimed to be St. Valentine of Ternie's Head was preserved in the abbey of New Minster, Winchester, and venerated. The Catholic Encyclopedia speaks of a third saint named Valentine who was mentioned in early martyrologies under date of February 14th. He was martyred in Africa with a number of companions, but nothing more is known about him. February 14th has celebrated as St. Valentine's Day

and various Christian denominations. It has, for example, the rank of commemoration in the calendar of saints in the Anglican Communion. The feast day of St. Valentine is given in the calendar of saints of the Lutheran Church. In the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, the feast day of St. Valentine of February 14th was relegated from the general Roman calendar to particular local or even national calendars for the following reason. Though the memorial of St. Valentine is ancient, it is left to particular calendars, since, apart from his name, nothing is known of St. Valentine

except that he was buried on the Via Flamania on February 14th. Therefore, as he remains within the Roman martyrology, he may be recognized optionally during Mass outside of Christmas Tide and Eastertide. The feast day is still celebrated in Balzan, Malta, where relics of the saint are claimed to be found. and also throughout the world by traditionalist Catholics who follow the older pre-second Vatican Council calendar. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, St. Valentine is recognized on July 6th, in which St. Valentine, the Roman Presbyter is honored.

In addition, the Eastern Orthodox Church observes the feast of Hiramarder Valentine, Bishop of Interamna, on July 30th. J. C. Cooper in the Dictionary of Christianity writes that St. Valentine was a priest of Rome who was imprisoned for succoring persecuted Christians. Contemporary records of St. Valentine were most probably destroyed during this Diocletianic persecution in the early 4th century. In the 5th or 6th century, a work called Pacio Marie and Marte, published a story of martyrdom. for St. Valentine of Rome, perhaps by borrowing tortures that happened to other saints, as was usual in the literature of that period. The same events are found in Beade's martyrology, which was compiled in the 8th century.

It states that St. Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion, with him attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing Julia, the blind daughter of his jailer Asterius. The jailer's daughter and his 46-member household, family members and servants,

came to believe in Jesus and were baptized. A later Pacio repeated the legend, adding that Pope Julius I built a church over his sepulchre. It is a confusion with a 4th century tribune called Valentino, who donated land to build a church at a time when Julius was a pope. The legend was picked up as fact by later martyrologies, starting with beads martyrology in the 8th century. It was repeated in the 13th century,

in the Golden Legend. There is an additional embellishment to the Golden Legend, which according to Henry Ansgar Kelly was added in the 18th century and widely repeated. On the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he is supposed to have written the first Valentine card himself, addressed to the daughter of his jailer, Asturius, who was no longer blind, signing as Your Valentine. The expression from Your Valentine was later adopted by modern Valentine letters. This legend has been published by both American Greetings and the History Channel.

John Fox, a 16th century English historian, and the Order of Carmelites, state that St. Valentine was buried in the Church of Brax cities in Rome, located near the cemetery of the cemetery of of St. Hippolytus. This order says that according to legend, Julia herself planted a pink-blossomed almond tree near his grave. Today, the almond tree remains a symbol of abiding love and friendship. Another embellishment suggests that St. Valentine performed clandestine Christian weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry. The Roman Emperor Claudius II supposedly forbade this in order to grow his army, believing that married men did not make for good soldiers. However, George Munger writes that this marriage ban was never issued,

and that Claudius II told his soldiers to take two or three women for themselves after his victory over the Goths. According to the legend, in order to remind these men of their vows and God's love, St. Valentine is said to have cut hearts from parchment, giving them to these soldiers and persecuted Christians, a possible origin of the widespread use of hearts on St. Valentine's Day. St. Valentine's supposedly wore a purple amethyst ring, customarily worn on the hands of Christian bishops, with an image of Cupid engraved in it,

a recognizable symbol associated with love that was legal under the Roman Empire. Roman soldiers would recognize the ring and ask, him to perform marriage for them. Probably due to the association with St. Valentine, Amethyst has become the birthstone of February, which is thought to attract love. While the European folk traditions connected with St. Valentine and St. Valentine's Day have become marginalized by modern customs, connecting the day with romantic love, there are still some connections with the advent of spring. While the custom of sending cards, flowers, chocolates and other gifts originated in the UK, Valentine's Day still remains connected with various

regional customs in England. In Norfolk, a character called Jack Valentine knocks on the rear door of houses, leaving sweets and presents for children. Although he was leaving treats, many children were scared of this mystical person. In Slovenia, St. Valentine or Stravko was one of the saints of spring, the saint of good health, and the patron of beekeepers and pilgrims. A proverb says that, St. Valentine brings the keys of roots. Plants and flowers start to grow on this day. It has been celebrated as the day when the first work in the vineyards and in the fields commences. It is also said that birds propose to each other or marry on that day. Another proverb says,

Valentin Pirovis Pomladen, Valentine, the first spring saint. As in some places, St. Valentine marks the beginning of spring. Valentine's Day has only recently been celebrated as the Day of Love. The Day of Love was traditionally March 12th, the St. Gregory's Day, or February 22nd, St. Vincent's Day. The patron of love was St. Anthony, whose day has been celebrated on. June 13th. The feast, Latin in Natali, on the birthday of St. Valentine, originated in Christendom, and has been marked by the Western Church of Christendom in honor of one of the Christian martyrs, named Valentine, has recorded in the 8th century Jalasian sacramentary. In ancient Rome,

Lupercalia was observed February 13th through the 15th, on behalf of Pan and Juno, pagan gods of love, marriage, and fertility. It was a rite connected to purification and health, and had only slight connection to fertility as a part of health and none to love. The celebration of St. Valentine is not known to have had any romantic connotations until Chaucer's poetry about Valentine's Day in the 14th century, some 700 years after celebration of Lupercalia is believed to have ceased. Lupercalia was a festival local to the city of Rome.

The more general festival of Juno Februa, meaning Juno the Purifier, or the Chase Juno, was celebrated on February 13th and 14th. Although the Pope Julius I, 492 to 496 article in the Catholic Encyclopedia, says that he abolished Lupercalia, theologian and Methodist minister Bruce Forbes wrote that no evidence has been demonstrated to link St. Valentine's Day and the rites of the ancient Roman purification festival of Lupercalia, despite claims by many authors to the contrary.

Some researchers have theorized that Jalius I replaced Lupercalia with the celebration of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and claim a connection to the 14th century's connotations of romantic love, but there is no historical indication that he ever intended such a thing. Also, the dates do not fit because at the time of Gillesius I, the feast was only celebrated in Jerusalem, and it was on February 14th only because Jerusalem placed the nativity of Jesus, Christmas, on January 6th. Although it was called purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it also dealt with the presentation of Jesus at the temple.

Jerusalem's purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary on February 14th became the presentation of Jesus at the temple on February 2nd, as it was introduced to Rome and other places in the 6th century after Gillesius the first time. Albon Butler in his The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, claimed without proof that boys and girls in Lupercalia drew names from a jar to make couples and that modern Valentine's letters originated from this custom. In reality, this practice originated in the Middle Ages, with no link to Lupercalia, with boys drawing the names of girls at random to couple with them. This custom was combated by priests, for example by Francis de Salas, around 1600.

Apparently, by replacing it was a religious custom of girls drawing the names of apostles from the altar. However, this religious custom is recorded as early as the 13th century in the life of St. Elizabeth's of Hungary, so it could have a different origin. The first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is believed to be in the Parliament of Fowles, 1382, by Geoffrey Chaucer, a dream vision portraying a Parliament for birds to choose their maids. Honoring the first anniversary of the engagement of 15-year-old King Richard II of England to 15-year-old and of Bohemia, Chaucer wrote, for this was on St. Valentine's Day, when every bird comes there to choose his match of every kind that men may think of, and

that so huge a noise they began to make, the earth and air and tree and every lake was so full that not easily was their space for me to stand. So full was all the place. Readers have uncritically assumed that Chaucer was referring to February 14th as Valentine's Day. Henry Ansgar Kelly has observed that Chaucer might have had in mind the feast day of St. Valentine of Genoa, an early bishop of Genoa, who died around 8307.

It was probably celebrated on the 3rd of May, a treaty providing for Richard II and Anne's marriage. The subject of the poem was signed on May 2, 1381. Jack B. Orich notes that the date in which spring begins has changed since Chaucer's time because of the processions of the equinoxes and the introduction of the more accurate Gagorean calendar only in 1582. On the Julian calendar in use in Chaucer's time,

February 14th would have fallen on the date now called February 23rd, a time when some birds have started mating and nesting in England. Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls refers to a supposedly established tradition, but there is no record of such a tradition before Chaucer. A speculative derivation of sentimental customs from the distant past began with 18th century antiquaries, notably Albon Butler, the author of Butler's Lives of Saints, and have been perpetuated even by respectable modern scholars. Most notably, the idea that Valentine's Day customs perpetuated those of the Roman

Lupercalia has been accepted uncritically and repeated in various forms up to the present. Three other authors who made poems about birds mating on St. Valentine's Day around the same years. Otten de Granson from Savoy, John Gower from England, and a knight called Pardo from Valencia. Chaucer most probably predated all of them, but due to the difficulty of dating medieval works, It is not possible to ascertain which of the four may have influenced the others. The earliest description of February 14th as an annual celebration of love appears in the Charter of the Court of Love.

The charter allegedly issued by Charles VI of France at Montailles-Gillet in 1400 describes lavish festivities to be attended by several members of the Royal court, including a feast, amra's song and poetry competitions, jousting, and dancing. Amid these festivities, the attending ladies would hear and rule on disputes from lovers. No other record of the court exists, and none of those named in the charter were present at Monte except Charles's queen, Isobo of Vavaria, who may well have imagined. it all while waiting out a plague. The earliest surviving Valentine is a 15th century rondo written by Charles Duke of Orleon to his wife. At the time the Duke was being held in the Tower

of London following his capture at the Battle of Agencourt, 1415. The earliest surviving Valentine's in English appear to be those in the pasten letters, written in 1477 by Marjorie Brewers, to her future husband John Paston, my right, well-beloved Valentine. Valentine's Day is mentioned ruefully by Ophelia in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Tomorrow is St. Valentine's Day, all in the morning betime,

and I am maid at your window to be your Valentine. Then up he rose and dawned his clothes, and up the chamber door, let in the maid, that out a maid never departed, more. John Don used the legend of the marriage of the birds as the starting point for his epithelamion, celebrating the marriage of Elizabeth, daughter of James I of England, and Frederick V, Elector Palentine, on Valentine's Day. The verse, Roses Are Red, echoes conventions traceable as far back as Edmund Spencer's epic, The Fair Queen, 1590. She bathed with roses red and violet's,

blue, and all the sweetest flowers that in the forest grew. The modern cliche Valentine's Day poem can be found in Gammer Gertons Garland, 1784, a collection of English nursery rhymes published in London by Joseph Johnson. The roses read, the violet's blue, the honey's sweet, and so are you. Thou art my love, and I am thine. I drew thee to my valentine. The lot was cast. and then I drew. And Fortune said it should be you. In 1797, a British publisher issued the young man's Valentine writer, which contains scores of suggested sentimental verses for the young lover, unable to compose his own. Printers had already begun producing a limited number of cards with verses and sketches, called mechanical valentines. Paper Valentine's, paper valentines,

became so popular in England in the early 19th century that they were assembled in factories. Fancy valentines were made with real lace and ribbons, with paper lace introduced in the mid-19th century. In 1835, 60,000 Valentine cards were sent by post in the United Kingdom, despite postage being expensive. A reduction in postal rates following Sir Rowland Hills Postal Reform, with the 1840 invention of the postage stamp, Penny Black, saw the number of Valentine's posted increase, with 400,000 sent just one year after its invention, and ushered in the less personal but easier practice of mailing valentines. That made it possible for the first time to exchange cards anonymously,

which is taken as the reason for the sudden appearance of racyverse in an era otherwise. prudishly Victorian. Production increased. Cupid's Manufactuary, as Charles Dickens termed it, with over 3,000 women employed in manufacturing. The Laura Sedan greeting card collection at Manchester Metropolitan University gathers 450 Valentine's Day cards dating from early 19th century Britain printed by the major publishers of the day.

The collection appears in Seddon's book. Victorian Valentine's, 1996. In the United States, the first mass-produced valentines of embossed paper lace were produced and sold shortly after 1847 by Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father operated a large book and stationary store, but Howland took her inspiration from an English valentine she had received from a business associate of her father. Intrigued with the idea of making similar valentines, Helen began her business by importing paper lace and floral decorations from England.

A writer in Graham's American Monthly observed in 1849, St. Valentine's Day is becoming, nay, it has become a national holiday. The English practice of sending Valentine's cards was established enough to feature as a plot device in Elizabeth Gaskell's Mr. Harrison's Confessions, 1851. I burst in with my explanations. The Valentine I know nothing about. It is in your handwriting, said he coldly. Since 2001, the greeting card association has been given an annual Esther Howland Award for a greeting card visionary.

Since the 19th century, handmade cards have given way to mass-produced greeting cards. In the UK, just under half of the population spend money on their valentines, and around 1.9 billion pounds was spent in 2015 on cards, flowers, chocolates, and other gifts. The mid-19th century Valentine's Day trade was a harbinger of further commercialized holidays in the U.S. to follow. In 1868, the British chocolate company Cadbury created fancy boxes, a decorated box of chocolates in the shape of a heart for Valentine's Day. Boxes of filled chocolates quickly became associated with the holiday. In the second half of the 20th century,

the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manner of gifts, such as giving jewelry. The U.S. greeting card association estimates that approximately 190 million valentines are sent each year in the U.S. Half of those valentines are given to family members, other than husband or wife, usually to children. When the Valentine exchange cards made in school activities are included, the figure goes up to $1 billion, and teachers become the people receiving the most valentines. The average valentine spending has increased every year in the U.S.

from $108 a person in 2010 to $131 in 2013. The rise of internet popularity at the turn of the Monium is creating new traditions. Millions of people use every year digital means of creating and sending Valentine's Day greeting messages, such as e-cards, love coupons, or printable greeting cards. Valentine's Day is considered by some to be a hallmark holiday. due to its commercialization. In the modern era, liturgically, the Lutheran Church and England Church

have a service for St. Valentine's Day, the Feast of St. Valentine, which includes the optional right of the renewal of marriage vows. In 2016, the Catholic bishops of England and Wales established a novena prayer to support single people seeking a spouse ahead of Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day customs, sending greetings cards known as Valentine's, offering confectionery and presenting flowers, developed in early modern England and spread throughout the English-speaking world in the 19th century. In the later 20th and early 21st centuries, these customs spread to other countries, like those of Halloween or aspects of Christmas, such as Santa Claus. Valentine's Day is celebrated in many East Asian countries with Singaporeans, Chinese, and South Koreans, spending the most money on Valentine's gifts. In most Latin American countries, for example, Costa Rica, Mexico, and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico,

St. Valentine's Day is known as Day of Loverados, Day of Lovers, or as Day of Amor and Amistad, Day of Love and Friendship. It is also common to see people perform acts of appreciation for their friends. In Guatemala, it is known as Dia del Carino, Affection Day. Some countries, in particular, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador, have a tradition called Amigro Secretto, Secret Friend, which is a game similar to the Christmas tradition of Secret Santa. In Brazil, the Dia dos Namorados literally lovers' day. or boyfriend's girlfriend's day, is celebrated on June 12th, probably because that is the day

before St. Anthony's Day, known there as the Marriage Saint, when traditionally many single women perform popular rituals called sympathias, in order to find a good husband or boyfriend. Couples exchange gifts, chocolates, cards, and flower bouquets. The February 14th Valentine's Day is not celebrated at all. because it is usually too close to Brazilian carnival, which can fall anywhere from early February to early March, and lasts almost a week. Colombia celebrates Day de la Mour and La Amistad on the third Saturday in September instead.

Amigo Secretto is also popular there. On the United States mainland, about 190 million Valentine's Day cards are sent each year, not including the hundreds of millions of cards school children exchange. Valentine's Day is a major source of economic activity, with total expenditures in 2017 topping 18.2 billion, or over $136 per person. This is an increase from $108 per person in 2010. In 2019, a survey by the National Retail Federation found that over the previous decade,

the percentage of people who celebrate Valentine's Day had declined steadily. From their survey results, they found three primary reasons, over-commercialization of the holiday, not having a significant other and not being interested in celebrating it. In Finland, Valentine's Day is called Friends Day, as the name indicates this day is more about remembering friends, not significant others. In Estonia Valentine's Day was originally called Friends Day as a colic. of the Finnish term. In France, a traditionally Catholic country, Valentine's Day is known simply as Saint Valentine, and is celebrated in much of the same way as other Western countries. The relics of Saint Valentine de Terny, the patron of the St. Valentine's Day, are in the Catholic

Church of St. Jean-Baptiste and St. Jean Lavangelis, located in a southern France town. The celebrations of Fette de Amarro takes place every two years on the Sunday closest to February 14th. The village gets dressed in its 19th century costume and put on the program with over 800 people. St. Valentine's Day in Greek tradition was not associated with romantic love. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, there is another saint who protects people who are in love, hyacinth or Cesarea.

But this was not widely known until the late 1990s. In contemporary Greece, Valentine's Day is generally celebrated as in the common Western tradition. On St. Valentine's Day in Ireland, many individuals who seek true love make a Christian pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Valentine and White Friar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, which is said to house relics of St. Valentine of Rome. They pray at the shrine and hope of finding romance. There lies a book in which foreigners and locals have written their prayer requests for love. St. Valentine's Day was introduced to Poland together with the cult of St. Valentine via Bavaria and Tyrol.

However, it rose in popularity in the 1990s. The only and the biggest public celebration in Poland is held annually from 2002 in Helmno, under the name Helmno Valentines. because Helmno's parish church of the assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been holding the relic of St. Valentine since the Middle Ages, local cult of the saint has been combined with the Anglo-Saxe and tradition. In Portugal, the holiday is known as the Diados Namorados, Lover's Day, Day of the Anamored. As elsewhere, couples exchanged gifts, but in some regions women give a linseau de Namorados, lover's handkerchief, which is usually embroidered with love motifs.

In recent years, Romania has also started celebrating Valentine's Day. This has drawn backlash from several groups, institutions, and nationalist organizations like Anuadrapt, who condemn Valentine's Day for being superficial, commercialist, and imported Western kitsch. In order to counter the perceived denaturation of national culture, Drago Betta, a spring festival celebrated in parts of southern in Romania, has been rekindled after having been ignored during the communist years as the traditional Romanian holiday for lovers. The holiday is named after a character from Romanian folklore, who was supposed to be the son of Babadoccha. Its date used to vary depending on the geographical area.

However, nowadays, it is commonly observed on February 24th. In Denmark and Norway, February 14th is known as Valentin's Dock, and is celebrated in much the same manner as in the United Kingdom. In Sweden, it is called Allah Hjtensdag, All-Heartz Day, but is not widely celebrated. A 2016 survey revealed that less than 50% of men and women were planning to buy presents for their partners. The holiday has only been observed since the 1960s. The holiday was first introduced in Spain through a 1948. advertisement campaign by the department store chain Galeries Praziados, and had become widespread by the 1970s. Known as San Valentin, a holiday has celebrated the same way as in the rest of the West.

In the UK, just under half of the population spends money on their valentines, and around 1.3 billion pounds, is spent yearly on cards, flowers, chocolates, and other gifts, with an estimated 25 million cards being sent. In Wales, some people celebrate died de Saint's Duenuan on January 25th, instead of, or as well as Valentine's Day. The day commemorates St. Duenuan, the Welsh patron Saint of love. The Welsh name for St. Valentine is Saint-Foland. In a 2016 poll conducted by Channel 4 for Valentine's Day, Jane Austen's line, My Heart is and Always Will Be Yours. from her novel Sense and Sensibility, as said by Edward Ferris, Hugh Grant, to Eleanor Dashwood, Emma Thompson, in the acclaimed 1995 film adaptation,

was voted the most romantic line from literature, film, and TV by thousands of women.