We all know that Valentine’s Day is a day for showing the person you love just how you feel. But how much do you know about the history of the day? Here’s a handful of facts you can use to impress your partner over a romantic meal this Valentine’s:

1. According to Catholic recordings, there have been ten Saint Valentines in history. But the one generally agreed to be the Valentine whom we celebrated on February 14th was a Roman priest who lived in the third century. That Valentine is the patron saint of love and lovers… but also, strangely, epilepsy and bee keepers.
2. Saint Valentine’s Day has its origins in the Roman fertility festival called Lupercalia, which was celebrated between February 13th and 15th. It was a cleansing ritual to purify the city and invite health and fertility. One of the core elements of the festival was the whipping of women and young girls, which was meant to help fertility.
3. The phrase ‘wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve’ has its origins in Valentine’s Day custom. In the Middle Ages your Valentine was determined by the name you pulled from a bowl containing all the names of eligible young men/women in the area. You would wear the name on your sleeve for the week.
4. The celebration of Valentine’s Day first became connected to romance in the 14th century when courtly love developed around Chaucer’s poetry. In his ‘Parliament of Fowls’ he described birds coming to meet atop a hill to choose mates for the spring: ‘That has shaken off winter’s storms/And driven away the long night’s black!/Saint Valentine, that are full high aloft,/Thus sing small birds for thy sake…’
5. The tradition of giving ‘sweets to your sweet’ is an old one; but from where did the phrase originate? In fact, the line is from Shakespeare’s Hamlet (Act 5, Scene 1), and is said by the queen as she scatters flowers for poor Ophelia, who has killed herself out of love-induced madness.