It's that time of year again. Buying valentines, candy, and whatever else you can think of just for the people that you love. To that I claim, big deal.
For the record, I hate Valentine's Day. I hate its obnoxious pink, purple and red color scheme. I hate its emphasis on love even though stores use it as a quickie cash-in to rank mad dollars.
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I don't like Valentine's Day for the same reason people find Thanksgiving pointless. It commemorates something that you could say any other time of day. But to Thanksgiving's credit, it has Grandma's uber delicious turkey stuffing. I'd take that over a box of chocolates any day of the week (in fact, I'd take just about anything over a box of chocolates).
Why even February 14th? You could take someone out to dinner, tell that person you love them, or do anything special with that person any other day. What makes Valentine's day so special? Well, I think it's best to look at the holiday's history.
History has dated this holiday back as a freakish hybrid of a pagan celebration and honoring a saint.
Its pagan half: an ancient Rome celebration known as Lubricaria. To honor and maintain fertility, the men sacrificed an animal and used their pelts to whip the women into town (History.com). And in case you're wondering, no, I have no idea why that could help the women produce more babies in any way. But hey, history has its nonsensical moments. Hopefully, the early Christian side of the holiday could explain something.
Although many Valentines were canonized as saints, there is one that stands out: St. Valentine of Rome. He lived under the rule of Roman Emperor Claudius II. Claudius wanted his armies to succeed in battle without his soldiers thinking of their loved ones, so not only could the soldiers not see their families for long periods of time, but he also banned marriages altogether. Also---like many Roman emperors around that time, he was persecuting Christian converts.
Seeing how the emperor's ban would be no match for the power of love, St. Valentine married young couples in secret as well as provided relief for the persecuted. He ended up executed for going against the emperor. Legend has it that before he died, the couples he married sent him flowers and notes to express their gratitude, and he even sent a note to his jailer's daughter ending with the phrase "From, your Valentine" (Catholic.org).
And thus a tradition was born, only now Americans have since dropped the "St." and have been calling it just plain old Valentine's Day. We have a history that got lost in favor of making money. Not that I'm surprised. When you mention one cute part of a depressing story, why not exploit the living daylights out of it through mass marketing?
Does it make me hate the holiday even more? Yes. I can't stand to see a good premise being pushed aside for money.
Besides, if you're going to do something that may have missed the point, why even call it Valentine's day? It could be called "Buy Me Stuff Day" because that's all it ever is nowadays. Better yet, I'm re-naming this holiday "Treat Yo-Self Day." And you know why? Relationships may come and go, but hey, at least "Parks and Recreation" will always be there.
