What Is a Valentine’s Day?
According to Google:
Valentine: a card sent, often anonymously, on St. Valentine’s Day (February 14th) to a person one loves or is attracted to.
This Valentine’s day (like so many previously) boys, men, and women will buy a variety of small (or large) gifts as symbols of love. Yet definitively, a Valentine is supposed to be anonymous. Many individuals (myself included) most likely remember elementary Valentine’s Day parties. At my school you would bring in a Valentine for everyone in your class, how anonymous is that? I remember going home, laying out the cards or candy and naming each person that gave me each item. So in elementary school, a time of simplicity and anonymity towards the foreign adult world, Valentine’s were defined to me.
In high school, the role of Valentine’s Day changes. With age comes romance, and the 14th of February provides an ideal opportunity for those shy to display their attraction for specific individuals. Also, with it being high school, it gave kids the chance to have a snap shot popularity contest; who would gain the most Valentines? Again, here anonymity was often avoided, the day was now used to raise awareness of feelings, friendly and, unfortunately, sometimes unfriendly. My point thus far is what exactly is Valentine’s Day, and why do we celebrate it the way we do?
The Name:
The name Valentine’s Day comes from the name of a Catholic saint; Saint Valentine. As much I would like to say that Mr. Valentine was a saint who married more couples than any other, (or something exciting like that) there are actually very few concrete stories about the man or men. There is a large possibility there were multiple Saint Valentines, because of the variation in stories, and even location.
The Date:
One bit of semi-universal information about the saint is that he died sometime around February 14th, at least one of them apparently did. Other records actually show the saint dying sometime in early July. Some say the date was actually picked because birds would pair in mid-February, but this answer raises the question as to why Saint Valentine is even relevant.
While some stories say the Saint was a romantic and illegally married individuals the Valentine’s Day we know now is actually rooted from a pagan celebration. The sexual celebration named Lupercalia (Google it later, the details are too pornographic for this bit). The celebration was held on the 15th of February, and was quite the party for the Romans. Today the “holiday” has calmed down from its’ nude party roots, but has an entire different madness to it.
DISCLAIMER: I am in no way rejecting the notion of Valentine’s Day or what it stands for, I will be celebrating with a loved one of my own.
Valentine’s Day today is a multi-billion dollar retail revenue generating event. Take it from a guy, red roses are not easy to find on Valentine’s Day, and if you can find them, they are four times the normal price. One of the commonly addressed problems with such a celebration is: Why is it only one day? Why are we taught to treat our loved ones with such urgency for only one day? Does this marginalize what love even is?
Valentine’s Day is a holiday with iffy origins, tons of money involved, and tons of people trying to prove their love every year. We are not often taught to treat these loved ones with the same attitude we have on Valentine’s Day, every day. If you’re lucky enough to find someone to make you their Valentine every day, you should celebrate with that person every time you see them, because love is always more than a bouquet of roses or box of chocolates. It is enjoying the time spent between two people, and this is why the history of Valentine’s Day doesn’t even matter.