Valentine's Day - the In's and Out's of it all!

"Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age." (Anais Nin)

Well - February 14th 2010 is just around the corner - we here on the Three Wise Girls show want to share the ups and downs of the day. Do you have a wonderfully romantic story to share - or are you Valentine memories filled with funny traditions - or do you just go to bed on the 13th and come back out on the 15th!?!? Are you a retailer with unique gifts for lovers, or the florist busy making up those bouquets? Whatever your tradition we want to hear all about it as we share the things we've learned about Valentine's Day and its history.

Mid February became the month for romance back in the pagan days with the holiday Lupricalia - named after Lupa who suckled Romulus and Remus and Faunis - the God of Fertility. The festival would begin with ritual sacrifices and then the young women would be slapped with the skins of the sacrificed animals to bestow fertility on them. How's that for a way to get you in the mood!?!?!

Cupid wasn't always Cupid - he was Eros - the Greek God that was so handsome that God's and Humans would go weak in the knees in his presence. He had 2 sets of arrows - gold for love and lead for hate. He shot Apollo the Sun God with a gold arrow to make him fall in love with the nymph Daphne - but he shot her with a lead arrow so she would run from him. Eros' mother was the Goddess Venus and she was intensely jealous of the mortal Psyche and send Eros to her to make her fall in love with a hideous beast - but he pricked himself with his own arrow and fell hopelessly in love with her. As he was a God and she a mortal, Eros had to keep his identity a secret. In later years it was the Romans who turned Eros the handsome God into Cupid the little cherub with the arrow!

Bet many of us didn't know that an imprisoned priest - Father Valentine back in the 3rd century sent the first note signed from your Valentine. That's right - Emperor Claudius II in his lust for power - pulled all the young men from their families to create his vast armies. He even went so far as to ban marriages outright. Well Father Valentine was the priest who went against the emperor and secretly married young couples. He was caught and sentenced to death by Claudius and imprisoned. Legend has it that the young couples would visit him in his cell and bring him flowers and treats to thank him for marrying them. Father Valentine fell in love with his jailer's daughter and on February 14th, the day of his execution, passed her a note signed from your Valentine - and the tradition began!

Now Valentine's Day is a 14 BILLION DOLLAR industry annually with more that 180,000,000 red roses and 36,000,000 heart-shaped boxes of candy sent to loved ones. However you celebrate - we hope that you will share your stories with us. Tune into BlogTalkRadio on February 11th at 12pm EST to join in the conversation or call us at 347 994 3835. Come on - have a nooner with The Three Wise Girls!!!