East Meets West: Origins of Valentine's Day and Flower Delivery

As a special day to express affection with greetings and gifts for hundreds of years, Valentine’s Day, also called the St. Valentine’s Day, comes every February 14 and can be traced back to A.D. 270. Lovers rack their brains before Valentine’s Day every year, trying to figure out the perfect night and the perfect gift. The Yuanxiao Festival (also called the Lantern Festival) is on February 15 this year, so it’s just one day away from Valentine’s Day. Since the Lantern Festival is considered as Lunar Valentine’s Day, the night of February 14 is much special than ever. Have you prepared your Valentine’s Day gift? The origins of Valentine’s Day might give you some ideas.

Origins of Valentine’s Day

There are a lot of legends about the origin of Valentine’s Day. The most famous one of them says, Valentine’s Day has been named after Saint Valentine, but the Catholic Church recognizes at least 3 Christians named Valentine and all of them were martyred, so it’s still in dispute. In the Middle Ages, Geoffrey Chaucer, an England poet, was the first to link Saint Valentine with Love and since then people began to express their affection on Valentine’s Day with cards. At that time, people handmade their own cards and individually designed with sentimental verse to show how much they loved the receiver. Not until the early 1900s when greeting cards were massively produced.

“Valentine’s Day” in Chinese culture are Yuanxiao Festival (lunar January 15) and Qixi Festival (lunar July 7). The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the first full moon night in the new year, so people in Han Dynasty worshiped the gods with lanterns on this day and Yuanxiao Festival has gradually become a day of entertainments, reunion and celebrations. In ancient times, young women were not allowed to leave home freely, but they could go out together to enjoy the lanterns on festivals. Therefore, Yuanxiao Festival became a good opportunity for unmarried men and women to know each other and is considered as "Lunar Valentine's Day".

Fresh Flowers

It’s not usual to have Valentine’s Day just one day away from Lunar Valentine's Day, that’s why Give Gift Boutique designed East Meets West, a distinctive collection, combining romance from the East and the West with Peony and Rose, paper fans and metallic butterflies.

Related: All About Roses: Fun Facts, Varieties and Ordering

Preserved Flowers

In recent years, preserved flowers become more and more popular with longer florescence, easier cultivation and more colors. As a symbol of endless love, preserved flower is perfect for lovers to express their affection to each other.

GGB Valentine’s Day Flower Delivery

Give Gift Boutique provides online ordering, same day gift delivery and next day rush orders throughout Hong Kong with customized greeting cards to send out surprises for you.