A New Beginning

February 2010

The KeyStone Reporter

A New Beginning: The opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of any Grand Masonic jurisdiction or any other Masonic related body. The Keystone Reporter

Valentine's Day Card Trivia

Teachers will receive the most Valentine's Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, and then, sweethearts. Children ages 6 to 10 exchange more than 650 million Valentine's cards with teachers, classmates, and family members.
Approximately 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are exchanged on February 14th each year - the largest seasonal card-sending occasion of the year, next to Christmas .
According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. [An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas].
Hallmark has over 1330 different cards specifically for Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Trivia about Flowers and Chocolates

110 million roses, the majority colour red, will be sold and delivered within a three-day time period.
The red rose was the favourite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Red stands for strong feelings
California produces 60 percent of American roses, but the vast number sold on Valentine's Day in the United States are imported, mostly from South America.
15% of U.S. women send themselves flowers on Valentine's Day.
73% of people who buy flowers for Valentine's Day are men, while only 27 percent are women.
More than 35 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be sold for Valentine's Day.
While 75% of chocolate purchases are made by women all year long, during the days and minutes before Valentine's Day, 75% of the chocolate purchases are made by men.
Over $1billion USD worth of chocolate is purchased for Valentine's Day.
One-third of all Valentine cards are accompanied by gifts.
An estimated 25% of Valentine's Day cards are humorous.
70% of those celebrating the holiday give a card, followed by a telephone call [49%], gift [48%], special dinner [37%], candy [33%] restaurant meal [30%], and flowers [19%].
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.
About 3% of pet owners will give Valentine's Day gifts to their pets. (Probably chocolate.)
The most fantastic gift of love is the Taj Mahal in India. It was built by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan as a memorial to his wife.