28 Januari 2010

Beautiful Flowers - A Valentine's Day Staple

How Valentine's Day evolved is a fascinating story. In early Roman times, the Roman Feast of Lupercalia was a celebration of pagan fertility held on February 14 that honored the Queen of Oman known as Juno, the Roman gods and goddesses, as well as the goddess of marriage and women. During the celebrations, women would write special love letters and place the letters in an urn. The men would then retrieve a letter from the urn and passionately court the woman who wrote the particular love letter.

The most well known origin of Valentine's Day comes from a 3rd century Roman priest by the name of Valentine. Against the explicit orders of Emperor Claudius II, Valentine performed secret marriages. The Emperor prohibited marriages because he thought that unmarried soldiers were more apt to enlist in his army. Valentine was caught and sentenced to death. The story says that Valentine conveyed a letter to a friend which was signed 'From Your Valentine' just prior to his execution on February 14 in 270 A.D. In 496 A.D., in honor of St. Valentine as the patron saint of lovers, Pope Gelasius named St. Valentine's Day on February 14th. Ever since that time, people all over the world have been celebrating Valentines Day.

Flowers have become a staple of Valentine's Day. The rose as a symbol of love, is the most widely used flower to give someone on Valentine's Day, especially the traditional bouquet of a dozen red roses. Over the years there have an increase in the diversity of flowers chosen for the special day. Different types of roses include multi-colored roses, white roses, red roses, yellow roses, long stemmed roses, pink roses, and special valentine roses. Other types of flowers now chosen include: carnations, lilies, hyacinths, crocuses, buttercups, tulips, and daisies. Men will send a beautiful bouquet of flowers to their special sweetheart. When giving Valentine flowers as gifts to men, popular colors of flowers include purple, orange, and red. Women love such colors as red, lavender, peach, and pink.

By giving a flower to your special loved one, you are expressing how you feel about that person. The choice of Valentine's Day flowers will depend on the sentiments you want to express.

For instance, a red rose expresses strong feelings and love. Lilac roses are a symbol of love at first sight. Peach Pink rose is a symbol of gratitude, sympathy, gentleness and friendship. Red Roses and White Roses mixed in a bouquet means truth and love, union and harmony, or true love. Lily means that one is a nurturing person. A red carnation means admiration. A white Carnation means pure love, faithfulness, innocence, and sweet and lovely. Chamomile/Golden Marguerite/Anthemis means cheerfulness and friendship. Iris means promise in love, wisdom, faith, and hope. Purple Lilac means the first emotions of love. Ambrosia means love is reciprocated. Pink Camellia means longing for you. White Chrysanthemum means truth and loyal love. Forget-Me-Not means true love, hope, and memories. Gloxina means love at first sight. Pansy means the recipient is being thought about warmly. Yellow and orange roses being mixed together means passionate thoughts. A yellow tulip means hopeless love.

Valentine's Day is a day to let that special someone how you feel. Giving flowers to your loved one is a thoughtful and romantic way to share your sentiments.

Valentine's Day Chocolate

It seems impossible to separate Valentine's Day from chocolate. The two go hand in hand and seem to fit together so perfectly. They seem to be a perfect complement for each other because valentine chocolate tends to put people in the mood for love. What chocolate really does is stimulate "feel good" chemical receptors in the brain like serotonin and dopamine. Essentially, good quality chocolate serves as an effective anti-depressant as it relaxes nervous tension and boosts feel-good energy and even libido. So if you or your sweetheart loves chocolate and you are planning on getting some for Valentine's Day you have made a good, healthy choice.

Chocolate or cocoa which comes from the cacoa plant is rich in antioxidants and has many health benefits. In fact, ORAC tests which are used to determine the antioxidant qualities of foods, have found that pure cocoa has one of the highest antioxidant properties of any food. Antioxidants destroy free radicals in our bodies that cause cell and tissue damage. Pure chocolate is loaded with vitamins and essential minerals such as magnesium, calcium, iron, and potassium. The health benefits increase in proportion to the dark color of the chocolate so the darker the chocolate the more health benefits it has. White chocolate has not been shown to have the health benefits that dark chocolate has.

Didn't think your Valentine day chocolate could do all that? Here's more. In addition to helping to relax the nervous system by activating the "feel good" chemical receptors in the brain, chocolate has many other health benefits. Studies have shown that due to its high content of special flavonoids called flavanols, chocolate can help to reduce blood pressure, diabetes, and the risk of heart disease. The high magnesium content also helps to build strong teeth and bones. Chocolate also contains a high copper content. Copper is an essential mineral that helps the body carry out many important functions.

Chocolate provides caffeine in safe, small amounts and these small amounts are sufficient to increase energy, alertness, and intellectual sharpness. Some believe that eating small amounts of valentine chocolate actually helps to improve memory and may help to ward off dementia.

So if you are a chocoholic you can be happy knowing that you are doing your body a big favor by eating high quality dark chocolate. And this Valentine's day you and your lover can fall in love all over again once you start feeling the effects of those feel good chemicals from your valentine day chocolate.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tricia_Morgan

Send Valentine Day Flower Delivery, best gift of flowers for valentine Day

Many People send valentine flower for Valentine Day
to express the eternity of their emotions. You can easily send valentine day flowers by delivery services available on internet. Sending flowers for Valentines Day means that you are sending most beautiful and romantic gift to your sweet heart.

Let a bouquet of roses or carnation say for you "I care about you". Love can be best expressed by a bunch flowers for valentine day. Roses are the most appropriate flowers for valentine day but color or the type of the flowers can express different deep connotations of your feelings and can also change the feelings of someone to whom you send Valentines Day flowers by delivery service.

The trend for roses is around 35 million years old and roses are considered as the most favorite flowers for Valentines Day. Its proper cultivation began about 5,000 years ago in Asia. Egyptians uses wreaths of roses for their tombs and on other historical crypts. Roses are also use to express love, respect, gratitude and many other feelings. Roses are also found in different colors and people send these flowers to express different feelings associated with different colors of flowers.

Mostly Red color of rose is associated for love or valentine day flowers. However today white roses are also symbolized as true love and are associated with true love, purity and innocence. People send these flowers on valentine day to express that their love is a secret between them and their sweethearts. White roses show the elegance and care for the relationships. Many people combine white and red roses with other flowers for valentine day to express purity and caring emotions to their loved ones.

Light Pink roses are also the flowers for valentine day. Their meaning is admiration, sincerity, gentleness, fun and happiness. Deep pink roses are associated with appreciation and thanks.
Just sending Valentine's Day flower delivery is not enough to express your love. Your love also needs a careful selection of the most significant flower for valentine day. The efforts and time you give for considerations for association of color and type of the valentine flower will leverage your feelings of affection to a highest level and strengthen your relation ship to last forever.

Article Source : http://www.articlealley.com/article_1346241_47.html