It's Sunday morning, so I'm back here in the Squiz Kids vault.
It's actually cold down here and a little dusty.
Shelves are stacked high with stories that we've told before, carefully labelled, neatly filed and just waiting for the right moment to be opened again.
And Valentine's Day happened just yesterday, so it felt like the perfect time to pull out one of our favourite history pack shortcuts.
So I'm coming to you from deep inside the vault, torch in hand, cobwebs politely ignored, to rewind to a day that began with goats in ancient Rome, picked up a poet or two along the way, and somehow turned into a $50 billion global celebration of cards, chocolates, and grand romantic gestures.
Ready to hear how it all happened?
Let's do it.
This is a Squeeze Kids podcast. your fresh take on what's happening in the world around you.
It has its roots in an ancient festival that featured goats.
Shakespeare was a fan and it was changed forever by the Hallmark Company.
This is your Squiz Kids shortcut to Valentine's Day the podcast where we dive into the who what when where, why and how of the big news stories.
I'm Amanda Bower.
And I'm Bryce Corbett.
In the days leading up to February 14, Australians are predicted to spend almost $400 million on Valentine's cards, chocolates, flowers and other romantic gestures. globally it's a whopping 50 billion dollars most of that in america roses are red love hearts are too if you want to spend money valentine's day for you oh dear can i maybe suggest you don't write a poem for your valentine this year man Good call.
Today we'll take you through when Valentine's Day got started, how it is celebrated by different people and what are some of the craziest real-life romantic gestures we've discovered.
Listen carefully.
There's a squeeze at the end.
When?
When?
Bryce, are you ready to hop into the Squiz Kids time machine?
Oh, yes.
I'm taking you back way back to ancient Rome and the festival of Lupercalia, which was held from February 13 to 15.
Now suffice it to say Bryce, that this is not a festival you'd be likely to see on the streets today.
Oh, really?
Why?
What are we talking?
Well apparently, young men who were naked would sacrifice a goat and a dog and then whip women with the hides or the skins of the animals they'd just killed.
What?
Now, believe it or not...
The young women would actually line up for the men to hit them because they thought that a good flogging with a goatskin would help them become mothers one day.
That's crazy.
There was also a matchmaking aspect to this festival, where men drew names of women from a jar and would then date that woman over the festival period, and then longer if it all went well.
Wow.
So it wasn't exactly flowers and chocolates, but there was that aspect of people looking for romance.
But how did Lupercalia become known as St Valentine's Day?
Well, Valentine's Day is a combination of different celebrations that over hundreds of years kind of just smushed into one thing.
So the name Valentine also comes from ancient Rome.
Because in the third century, the emperor of Rome is said to have executed, which means put to death, either one or two men named Valentine on February the 14th.
Hmm, that doesn't sound very romantic.
No, not at all.
Valentine was a Christian priest and was executed for his religion.
But there is a romantic connection.
A common legend states that St.
Valentine secretly married couples against the emperor's orders because married men didn't have to go to war.
Ah, so now I'm seeing what love has to do with it.
So in the 5th century, as Christianity started to take hold in Rome, the Pope wanted to put an end to the naked goat sacrificing part of February the 14th.
Can't think why.
So he merged the feast day of St.
Valentine with Lupercalium.
Uh-huh.
Over the years, this day celebrating the patron saint of love, young people and happy marriages spread in popularity throughout Europe.
So handmade Valentine's cards for your love were a common thing in the Middle Ages, which went from about the 6th to the 15th century.
And the famous playwright Shakespeare mentions St Valentine's Day in two of his most famous works A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet.
Tomorrow is St Valentine's Day.
All in the morning be time, and I am made at your window to be your valentine.
Aha, Ophelia, Hamlet's doomed girlfriend in Act 4, Scene 5.
That's the one.
Very impressive, Mr Corbett.
Well, thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Now, tell me, Amanda, how did we go from handmade cards in Shakespeare to a $50 billion event?
Yeah well, starting in the 18th century, many societies all over the world went through an industrial revolution, meaning that lots of people moved to cities and started taking jobs in factories.
So, for example, instead of women on farms spinning their sheep's wool, big factories started buying the wool and using machines to spin more wool faster.
So I want you now to imagine what that meant for the handmade paper Valentine's card.
Oh, yeah, of course.
Mass production.
So once the holiday took off in the USA and the Hallmark Company started making its mass-produced cards in 1913 well, it's never really been the same.
Let's talk about how people celebrate nowadays.
How?
Bryce, have you ever gotten a Valentine's Day card?
Well, Amanda, it's funny you ask.
I distinctly remember probably it would have been in maybe year eight and I did receive a Valentine's Day card and I was very excited about it, until I looked a little closer and the handwriting looked very much like my mother's handwriting.
Yeah.
Well, cards are definitely still the main way that most people celebrate Valentine's Day.
And statistics do show Bryce, just to make you feel a little bit better, that lots of people aren't just getting them for people they have a crush on or they're partnered with.
One survey showed that people not only got Valentine's for their kids, like your mum, but also for their dogs, their cats and their friends.
Well, if that's the case Amanda, that surely means that people could end up having to buy a lot of cards.
Yeah well, when I was in America as a teacher, our school had a rule that if you wanted to bring a Valentine for one kid in your class, you had to bring a Valentine for every kid in your class.
Oh, everyone gets a card.
Yeah, I mean it was a really nice way to make sure no feelings got hurt, but it did mean that you had to make or buy a lot of cards.
Yeah, I'll say.
A lot of adults will also buy flowers, especially red roses, on Valentine's Day, as well as chocolates.
And it can be hard to get a booking in a restaurant, especially those romantic ones with candles on the table.
Mm-hmm. and quite a lot of people also choose to get married on Valentine's Day.
In the Philippines.
It's not unusual on February 14 to see mass weddings of hundreds of people getting married at the same time.
Right.
It's the most common wedding anniversary date in the Philippines.
Wow.
Benedict Cumberbatch, the actor you may know better as Doctor Strange, also got married on Valentine's Day, and so did Harrison Ford aka.
Han Solo.
Han Solo, wow.
I can only imagine what crazy things celebrities might do on Valentine's Day.
So, Amanda, tell me, what are some of the biggest romantic gestures you've learned about?
Ah, Bryce, where to start?
There are the Guinness Book of Records for the biggest box of chocolates weighing almost 1700 kilos.
Whoa!
Or the record for the heart-shaped bouquet of 41,249 pink flowers.
No.
And you won't believe this one, the record for the hottest kiss ever.
Wow.
Wow.
And in terms of the things that only money can buy.
TV actor John Stamos hired a Disney animator to make a romantic film and screened it privately for his girlfriend at Disneyland before asking her to marry him.
Wow.
Yeah, she said yes.
Whoa, thank goodness for that.
And then if you could be like Beyonce she bought a private jet for Jay-Z something you can do too if you have a spare 60 million.
Wow.
Yeah, while you're there, just get two of them.
And staying with aeronautics, that's a word that means related to aircraft.
A German multimillionaire hired a helicopter to drop a tonne of red roses in the backyard of French film star Brigitte Bardot in the 1960s.
Oh, my God.
He was trying to get her attention and it certainly worked.
They got married later that year, but it only lasted about three years.
Wow.
Which goes to show, I suppose, that while presents and cards and flowers are nice, there's a whole lot more to love.
There is.
Time for the quiz.
This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you've been listening.
Question number one.
Who is the famous English playwright and poet who included Valentine's Day in his work?
That's right.
It was William Shakespeare.
Question number two.
What's the name of the revolution that saw people moving to cities and working in factories?
That's right, historians, it's the Industrial Revolution.
Question number three, what would you prefer?
A day at Disneyland without anyone else there or a private jet?
You're right, there's no right answer to this one, but it's a great thing to have a conversation about.
I don't have anywhere to park a jet, so I think I'd take the day at Disneyland.
That's your biggest reason to not take a jet.
I haven't got anywhere to park it.
That's all we have time for today.
Thanks for joining us as we explored the who, what, when, where, why and how of Valentine's Day.
Now get out there and have a most excellent Valentine's Day.
Over and out.
