A Special Valentine’s Day Edition

In the spirit of celebrating love, romantic and otherwise, I thought I’d share a few interesting and entertaining tidbits. Enjoy❣️

VALENTINE’S DAY

♥️ The ancient, pre-Roman pastoral festival of Lupercalia was observed on February 15 to avert evil spirits and purify new life for the spring, releasing health and fertility. Animal sacrifices were made, women whipped with strips from the hides and given by lottery to men for coupling.

💍Statistics released by the National Retail Federation found that Americans spent more than $23.9 billion (about $175 per consumer) on the holiday in 2022. Much of that money goes toward jewelry (an estimated $6.2 billion).

♥️ St. Valentine was (most likely) a martyred priest who performed marriage rites for Christians at a time in the Roman Empire when such an act was illegal and punishable by death. 

🌹Red roses as a symbol of romance dates back to ancient Rome—it was the favorite posy of Venus, the Roman goddess of love (and Cupid's mother). But it wasn't until the the Victorian era that men began giving the flower to women they were wooing. (Nicer than animal hide flogging, yes?)

♥️ In medieval times, it was common wisdom that birds began mating in mid-February, specifically on the 14th, aka St. Valentine's Day. The poet, Chaucer was the first to link St. Valentine’s Day and romance, writing in 1381: "For this was on Saint Valentine’s day, / When every fowl comes there his mate to take.”

THE HEART

🫀🧠 The heart has a brain of its own — the intrinsic cardiac nervous system (ICNS) —that can sense, feel, learn and remember. (Which may explain why many heart transplant recipients experience memories, habits and tastes that are not theirs, but relate directly to their donors.)

💔 Broken heart syndrome is a real thing. Also called stress-induced cardiomyopathy or takotsubo cardiomyopathy, BHS is the reaction to a surge of stress hormones that can be caused by an emotionally stressful event. Tests show dramatic changes typical of a heart attack, but unlike a heart attack, there’s no evidence of blocked heart arteries.

♥️🧠 The heart sends more information to the brain than the brain does to the heart.

💗 The heart’s electrical field is 200 times stronger than the brain’s and its magnetic field is 5,000 times greater, measurable as far as eight feet from the body.  (It may extend miles, we simply don’t have the means to measure it.)   

💓The heart’s electromagnetic field changes according to your emotional state, and other people (and critters) can detect the quality of your emotions through the electromagnetic energy radiating from your heart.

KATE INGRAM, MA, CSBC, is an intuitive counselor, self-belief coach, award-winning author, and romantic who specializes in helping hearts heal and exploring the intersection of Spirit and everyday, messy, human experience. Find out more at kintsugicoaching.com or write kate@kintsugicaoching.com