Just complaining: Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day: the day that is anything but romantic. In a few weeks, it will be that time again. Completely forced, we ‘celebrate’ love on this day, but why do we actually do this? Every day should just be filled with love, right? Receiving flowers is the best thing there is, but I don't necessarily need to receive them on Valentine's Day, as that feels quite like a mandatory act. Okay, I do want to receive them on Valentine's Day, but every other day of the year feels more special to me.
Companies are all too happy to take advantage of this day. In the past, we mainly sent anonymous cards to each other, but nowadays it’s increasingly about gifts. From special packages with perfume to jewelry and hotel deals: you are bombarded with it, and therefore you can’t possibly come home empty-handed. This causes a lot of stress for people on Valentine's Day, as there are indeed expectations of you. We simply cannot ignore it: Valentine's Day is the most commercial day of the year.
And is this day originally really that romantic? That is not even a hundred percent certain. Over the centuries, various myths have emerged about the origin of Valentine's Day. There are several theories circulating about this celebration, but the most mentioned is the story of Saint Valentine: a Christian priest from Rome, who lived in the third century AD. According to sources, there was an imperial law at that time that forbade soldiers to marry. It was believed that single men were more willing to die on the battlefield. However, Valentine is said to have secretly married soldiers because he believed that love conquers all. When Emperor Claudius II (who was in power at that time) discovered this, he had Valentine beheaded on February 14, 270, and thus Valentine was named a ‘martyr’ for love.
This all sounds very heroic and romantic, but the chance that this story was made up later is quite large. The only biographical fact that can be found about this Valentine is his date of death. So not really a watertight story. Personally, I think there has mainly been an attempt to find a link between some historical Saint Valentine and our current love tradition on February 14.
Despite all the beautiful stories, there is also the hard theory that Valentine's Day only became a holiday when clever shopkeepers got involved. Well, I fully agree with this theory. This commercial version of Valentine's Day blew over from America to Europe in the mid-twentieth century. The day as we know it now, where we are obliged to put our loved one in the spotlight through gifts. And if you don’t have a loved one? Then it’s an even worse day. It is seen as incredibly painful when you don’t have a ‘Valentine’, at least, that’s how I experienced it in my single years. So, you understand that I think Valentine's Day is a lot of nonsense. This celebration simply does not really revolve around love.
