VALENTINE'S DAY WEBQUEST
This is a love-themed webquest by Luke Vyner from onestopenglish.com. It includes activities on the history of Valentine’s Day, celebrations of love around the word, strange facts and amorous quotations.
What do you know about the history of Valentine’s Day?
Discuss your ideas with a partner.
Activity 1: The history of Valentine’s Day
Work in pairs to discover more about the history of Valentine’s Day. Student 1 reads sections 1 and 3. Student 2 reads sections 2 and 4.
Section 1: The legend of Saint Valentine
- How many saints named Valentine and Valentinus are recognized by the Catholic Church?
- What did Emperor Claudius ll ban?
- How did Valentine supposedly respond to this ban?
- Who did Valentine supposedly write a letter to, signed ’From your Valentine’?
- How well known was Saint Valentine by the Middle Ages?
Section 2: Origins Of Valentine’s Day: A Pagan Festival In February
- What do some argue that the church was trying to ’Christianize’?
- What did the festival of Lupercalia celebrate?
- Where would members of the Luperci meet together at the start of the festival?
- What did priests sacrifice?
- According to legend, why did women leave their names in a big urn?
Section 3: Valentine’s Day: A Day Of Romance
- Who officially chose February 14th for Saint Valentine’s Day?
- Why did February 14 become associated with love during the Middle Ages?
- Where is the oldest valentine greeting kept?
- Who, according to myth, was hired by King Henry V to write a valentine greeting to Catherine of Valois?
Section 4: Typical Valentine’s Day Greetings
- When did Valentine’s Day begin to gain popularity in Great Britain?
- What was normal practice by the middle of the 18th century?
- What replaced written letters in 1900?
- According to the Greeting Card Association, how many Valentine’s Day cards are sent out each year?
Share your answers with your partner.
Activity 3: Valentine facts
- There are 34 single men aged 65 or older for every 100 single women of the same age.
- In the US, there are 2.2 million marriages every year, which is more than 600 a day.
- More than 50% of all Valentine’s Day cards are bought in the six days before the celebration.
- In 2004, there were 21,667 florists across the US and between all these businesses 109,915 people were employed.
- 70%: The percentage of men and women aged 30 to 34 who had been married at some point in their lives in 2006.
- Valentine’s Day is the most popular time to send greeting cards with 141 million cards sent every year.
- In 2008, 112,185 marriages were performed in Nevada. So many couples ’tie the knot’ there that it is the fifth most popular US state in which to marry even though it only ranks 35th in terms of population.
- 904: The number of dating service companies in America in 2002.
- More than 50% of the US population celebrate Valentine’s Day by purchasing a greeting card.
- There are 100 single women in their 20s for every 119 single men of the same age.
Activity 4: Quotations about love
