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| | As Ferbuary 14 is approaching, Freaking News looks at how politicians and celebrities will spend this Valentine's day.
Despite of the considerable variety of gifts, greeting cards - valentine still remain as the integral attribute of the Valentine's Day. In USA, one of the largest companies, manufacturing valentines, was Hallmark - the indisputable leader in the industry of greeting cards, which is the first one to suggest packing of valentines in an envelope. Now-a-days, Hallmark, formed by a teenager from state Nebraska, manufactures huge quantity of valentines in over 30 languages worldwide and the valentines are sold in more than 100 countries.
However, till date, some people draw and make valentines with their own hands. For many parents, it is the best gift which they only can receive from children.
With each year, valentines are becoming more and more varied, adopting the latest technologies and progress of science. So, for example, today, it is possible to buy "singing" or “speaking valentines”, on which you can pen any message for their beloved ones.
It is possible to send Valentine's Day greetings through email. On many sites, it is possible to find diversified greeting cards and wishes. Honestly, it can seem little bit official, which is not characteristics to Lover's Day, hence think in the beginning, whether it is necessary to send valentine via Internet. Also remember, entire thing is brilliantly simple.
Symbols associated with Valentine's Day:
In our days, none would be surprised with the fact that one of most important symbols of Valentine's Day is heart. During ancient times, symbol of heart was source of all emotions. And only later, it began to associate only with one feeling - love. As a matter of fact, heart is the most important organ, some sort of pump, which pumps blood through entire organism, i.e. it is basis of our life.
Till now, it is not known when and why heart became symbol of Valentine's Day. Some scientists believe, that the symbol of heart got romantic meaning and such form, when people for the first time, tried to represent the organ, about which they did not know earlier and which, certainly, never could see. But heart is not a unique symbol of Lover's Day even symbols of display of love and fidelity are also considered as symbols of Valentine's Day:
Red roses: Even during ancient times, people considered red roses as favorite flower of the Roman Goddess of love Venus and hence bouquet of red roses symbolized huge love, presented to the goddess. Besides, red color symbolizes strong and intense feelings of lovers.
Laces: Earlier many women kerchief were stitched from laces. Even many years back, when women dropped the kerchief and the duty of gentlemen was to pick it up and sometimes, men even fought for this right. At times, having caught the sight of handsome boy, girls purposefully dropped the kerchief to draw the attention of the man. Therefore, lace kerchiefs were also associated with ladies flirt (coquettishness) and romanticism.
Love knots: As a token of love, many lovers formed so called “love knots” - tied alternate eyelets from ribbon or drawn knots on paper. Such love knots became symbol of eternal love.
Lover Birds: Tiny multi-colored birds in Africa, named so for the devotion to each other because, they never leave their partners and fly only together, as in the case of all lovers. Pigeons too are considered as symbols of love and fidelity as they always together care for the posterity.
One more symbol of love, to be precise, symbol of kiss, is considered sign "X". Initially, this sign was used in the Mediaeval age, as the signature on documents, i.e , who could not write the letters. Once, one of the illiterate people authorized his signature "X" with a kiss, showing the sincerity. That how sign "X" was associated with kiss. However, there are some theories how the sign "X" originated. For example, some people believe that this sign simply symbolizes slightly inclined cross and others argue that, it is the first letter in the name of Christ, as "X" or the symbol "Chi" is 22nd letter in Greek alphabets, which designates Jesus Christ in Church. In due course of time, valentines became more varied and first post offices appeared, due to which, it was possible to send a greeting postcard to any country in the world. Since, it was very expensive to send valentines through post till 18th century, many people brought their valentines for their loved ones on their own.
Ester Howland was the first one to make greetings cards for Valentine's Day and got good profits on the sale of first commercial American valentines. Today, over 2000 publishing houses of greeting cards are registered only in the USA. |
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