Changes

Modern Valentine's Day has been strongly influenced by American traditions that first derived from the mid-19th century. Esther A. Howland in the 1840s began selling cards and gifts that contained real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures. It was also this time that women began to be more strongly associated with Valentine's Day relative to men, where marketing began to focus more on them and today they constitute about 85% of Valentine's Day sales. It was around 1900 that Valentine cards were popularly produced throughout Europe and began to replace letters and notes that lovers would exchange. Valentine cards often contained secret compartments that the women of affection would have to find, which may have contained additional messages. The British chocolate company of Cadbury began to create decorated boxes of chocolates for Valentine's Day in the 1860s and that has since made chocolates another association with Valentine's Day. <ref>For more on how modern Valentine's day traditions started, see: Lee, R. W. (1984). A history of valentines. Wellesley Hills, Mass.: Lee Publications.</ref>

In the modern world, it is China and South Korean that have taken the mantel of spending the most on Valentine's Day. In other countries outside of the West, many of them had feasts or festivals associated with love. These customs have often been replaced or sometimes integrated along with Western Valentine's Day traditions such as sending chocolates and flowers to a beloved. For instance, in Wales, St . Dwynwen's Day was the day to celebrate lovers. This falls on January 25th. Aspects of this tradition are sometimes combined with February 14th in Wales or people simply celebrate the Welsh holiday with Western style Valentine's Day celebrations.<ref>For more on how Valentine's Day is celebrated around the world today, see: Williams, V. (2017). <i>Celebrating life customs around the world: from baby showers to funerals</i>. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO.</ref>