Data Detectives: valentine's day

Showing posts with label valentine's day. Show all posts

Friday, February 13, 2015

Valentine's Day 2015: Feb. 14

Expressing one’s love to another is a celebrated custom on Valentine’s Day. Sweethearts and family members present gifts to one another, such as cards, candy, flowers and other symbols of affection.

Opinions differ as to who was the original Valentine, but the most popular theory is that he was a clergyman who was executed for secretly marrying couples in ancient Rome. In A.D. 496, Pope Gelasius I declared Feb. 14 as Valentine Day.

Esther Howland, a native of Massachusetts, is given credit for selling the first mass-produced valentine cards in the 1840s. The spirit continues today with even young children exchanging valentine’s cards with their fellow classmates.

Candy

1,379

Number of U.S. manufacturing establishments that produced chocolate products in 2012, employing 37,998 people. California led the nation with 152 of these establishments, followed by New York, with 119. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns: 2012, NAICS code (31135) <http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2012/00A1/naics~31135>

445

Number of U.S. establishments that manufactured nonchocolate confectionary products in 2012. These establishments employed 20,419 people.