| Special
Valentine's Day Fact File
2701/ The word 'Honeymoon'
first appears in the 16th century. The honey is a reference
to the sweetness of a new marriage. And the moon is not a
reference to the lunar-based month, but rather a bitter acknowledgment
that this sweetness, like a full moon, would quickly fade.
2702/ "Getting a
Valentine" in criminal jargon means to receive a one-year
jail sentence.
2703/ The heart is the
most common symbol of romantic love. Ancient cultures believed
the human soul lived in the heart. Others thought it to be
the source of emotion and intelligence. Some believed the
heart embodied a man's truth, strength and nobility. The heart
may be associated with love because the ancient Greeks believed
it was the target of Eros, known as Cupid to the Romans. Anyone
shot in the heart by one of Cupid's arrows would fall hopelessly
in love. Because the heart is so closely linked to love, it's
red colour is thought to be the most romantic.
2704/ Your heart weighs
approximately 11 ounces, is a little larger than your fist,
and beats approximately 4000 times an hour.
2705/ Wearing a wedding
ring on the third 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.
2706/ The tradition of
a man proposing with a gold ring dates as far back as 860
AD, when Pope Nicholas I stated that a man should give his
bride a gold ring to show his personal financial sacrifice
for her hand in marriage. This tradition has lasted until
today, except marketers have stated a requirement of two months'
salary, including a big diamond! (Men did not start wearing
wedding rings
until the early 1900's.)
2707/ A ring has been
included in wedding ceremonies since the 12th century. Pope
Innocent the Third ordained that marriages had to take place
in church and that a wedding ring should be exchanged during
the service.
2708/ The longest engagement
on record was Octavio Guillen and Adriana Martinez. After
"dating" for 67 years, they finally got married.
They were both 82.
2709/ 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.
2710/ The term "to
wear your heart on your sleeve" originated in the Middle
Ages when young men and women drew names from a bowl to see
who their Valentines would be which they would then wear pinned
on their sleeves for one week. To wear your heart on your
sleeve now means that it is easy for other people to know
how you are feeling.
2711/ A Los Angeles man
was arrested in 1981 for sneaking under the tables at the
university library and painting women's toenails.
2712/ In Tibet there's
a courting custom called t'lao mao hui. A man steals
the hat of a woman he fancies, and if she likes him, she visits
him to get it back.
2713/ Harvard University
studies show that, when domestic differences arise, it's usually
the spouse who does the most talking who gets his (or her)
way.
2714/ Ronald Reagan made
his screen debut in 1937 with the film, Love is in the
Air.
2715/ When Gore Vidal
was asked if the first person he had sex with was male or
female, he apparently replied that he had been too polite
to ask.
2716/ A survey conducted
at Iowa State Collge in 1969 suggests that a parent's stress
at the time of conception plays a major role in determining
a baby's sex. The child tends to be of the same sex as the
parent who is under less stress.
2717/ During the Middle
Ages in England and France there was a custom among nobles,
kings and peasants known as the droit du seigneur.
When any of the subjects of a great lord married (be he the
noble of a King or the peasant of a noble), the lord himself
had the privilege of deflowering the bride. Although in the
later Middle Ages this right was rarely exploited, it was
a common part of the marriage ritual in earlier days.
2718/ The Roman Emperor
Nero married his male slave Scorus in a public ceremony.
2719/ In the marriage
ceremony of the ancient Incas, the couple were considered
officially wed when they took off their sandals and handed
them to each other.
2720/ When asked whether
they would rather have sex or go shopping, 57% of women chose
the mall.
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