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The story of Valentines; a celebration of sex and love
on Dec 30, 2021
The Christmas baubles and festive garlands are packed away, and the shelves jam-packed with button-eyed teddy bears, red roses and more heart embossed cards than we can cut trees for. It can only mean one thing - Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.
As we flock to the shops to stock up on romantic gestures and love-laden surprises, we find ourselves mesmerised by the celebration of lust - but why is it we’re so besotted with lacy lingerie and sweet, sexy gifts?
Good question. At Lovehoney, we don’t believe in waiting for one special occasion to express your love, but if there is a time to go all out with raunchy gifts and novelty buys, it might as well be now. Candy Nipple Tassles, anyone?
Where it started
From the 14th Century only, Valentines has been celebrated in countries across the world as an official holiday, but the tales of origins behind cupid’s bow and arrow date as far back as Romans.
Valentines Day has long shared its name with a martyred Christian Saint, as intended by the Roman Catholic Church, but delve deep enough down the rabbit hole and you might just find a series of hedonistic orgies gives roots to this now commercialised celebration of love and lust.
Are we starting to speak your love language now?
Stripping down the stats...
Well, according to a study initiated by sex therapist and researcher, Kristen Mark, over 80% of us have seem to have some pretty deep sexpectations when Valentines Day makes an appearance, and 50% of us might feel disappointed if we don’t see a little bedroom action during the one-day love fest.
Clearly, we love sex and it’s never been more obvious. (If you think you’re sitting nicely within the most sex-enthusiastic of us, why not check out our Sex Map and find out where your city ranks?)
Track back a few thousand years ago, we weren’t the only ones to get excited about stripping off to get down and dirty.
Raunchy Romans
February might long have been associated with romance, but it also coincides with the Roman festival of Lupercalia - a pagan inspired event where women were matched to men by lottery, and following a bloody animal sacrifice ritual supposed to wield off infertility and bad luck, they celebrated intimacy and love by…. Well, you know the rest.
Phwoar, who could have predicted?!
Well, Pope Gelasius was less keen on the sexually-charged symbolic celebration, and in 494, eliminated the pagan festival entirely, declaring February 14th as a day to celebrate the martyrdom of Saint Valentine instead.
Still, when Valentine’s rolls around, we do too - under the covers, across the sofa and anywhere else the mood might take us.
Facts are, we love nothing more than to love. Whether it’s sensual massages and an evening of Tantra, or plain out discovering our deepest and darkest desires through a red hot night of passion, we bare all as we let loose on our inhibitions and enjoy every moment of being intimately adventerous.
But let's face it...
After a disruptive two years, locked in with your partner, things in the bedroom may have become dull, routine and expected. Could this years’ celebration be an opportunity to break the humdrum and embrace your sexual desires?
This Valentines, we’re encouraging you to get wild. From the couples amongst us who want nothing more than to romantically connect, to those of us who just want to spend a little time on self-love; Valentines is for anyone and everyone.
Our latest collection is bursting at the seams with sexy and sultry lingerie, luxury sex toys and novelty gifts that everyone can enjoy, whether it's together embraced in throes of passion, or alone, for those more private moments of personal intimacy.
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