By 8th-Grader Jackie Padgett
Lots of people associate Valentine’s day with love, hearts, chocolate, and those little candy hearts everyone gets. But what’s the backstory of it? Surprisingly it is as happy and candy associated.
How did this start?
Valentine’s Day has been around for a long time and has been celebrated in many different ways. It includes a mix of Christian and ancient Roman history. Some say Canterbury Tales author Geoffrey Chaucer gets credit. If you didn’t know (surprisingly not everyone did) the full name of the holiday is Saint Valentine’s Day. Who is Saint Valentine? Well, the Catholic Church has multiple martyr saints who go by the name Valentine (Britannica). One of the stories says that Valentine was a priest who worked during the 3rd century when Claudius II of Rome ruled. Cladius II thought that men who didn’t have families or wives were better soldiers, so he banned young men from getting married. Valentine thought this wasn’t right, so he secretly helped young couples get married. He was soon ratted out and executed (History). Another story says that Valentine (another priest under Claudius, but this one was imprisoned), wrote letters to the jailer’s daughter and signed his name as “Your Valentine.” Other versions say he was an imprisoned bishop and healed the jailer’s daughter from blindness then wrote her letters (Britannica).
Traditions around the World
In America, people celebrate Valentine’s Day by gifting chocolates, writing letters/cards, making a nice flower bouquet, or going out to a nice dinner, sometimes even presenting a loved one with nice new jewelry. Celebrations of love occur around the world. Come with me to see the variety of love tokens. In Argentina, they don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day, but they do have a July “week of sweetness” (Travel Triangle). Couples go out on dates and give each other chocolates. In Korea, people celebrate days of love every 14th of the month, and every month has a different “ theme.” For example, December 14th is the day of hugs. Ghana decided to change Valentine’s Day to national chocolate day. They get tourists to come and visit the restaurants and performances all based on chocolate. In Bulgaria, they celebrate San Trifon Zartan (Day of Winemakers) on the 1st and 14th of February, where they enjoy a nice glass of wine with their loved ones. The men in Spain, for Saint Dionysus Day, will make their partner a macadora, a little figurine made out of marzipan. [Can you find a picture?] These figures get gifted on October 8th. If you’ve ever felt lonely on Valentine’s Day, Estonia has you covered. On February 14th they celebrate a friends and family version of Valentine’s Day. Don’t worry–couples are included as well. In Japan, the women have to buy all the gifts for their partner, and the partner can return the favor a couple months later. Finally, Wales celebrates in a very interesting way. On February 25th, couples exchange handcrafted wooden spoons as a gesture of love.
Short and Sweet Surveys–
I was curious as to what our school thought of Valentine’s Day, so I asked a few Palm Valley teachers and students the following questions:
1. What are your opinions on Valentine’s day?
2. What do you think the “point” of Valentine’s Day is?
They surprisingly had very varied opinions.
Freshman Louisa Richardson is surprisingly suspicious of couples who join together right before Valentine’s Day.
“Valentine’s Day is impeccably overrated for couples who have just started dating a few weeks before. However, that is not always the case, but usually it is. For couples who have been dating more than a week, they can celebrate Valentine’s Day just fine. Buy the chocolate. Otherwise it makes me a little suspicious. It’s all a little too convenient.“
Louisa Richardson
Mr. Hesson, one of our math teachers, shares a very thoughtful answer.
“I’ve never much liked this holiday. When you’re single, it’s meaningless at best and miserable at worst. But even when you’re in a relationship, it tends to feel more like an obligation than a real reason to celebrate being in love. In my relationships, the anniversary was always the important day, the day when I would get excited about finding the perfect gift and planning the perfect day. Birthdays could be like this too. But on Valentine’s, the celebration was always pretty forgettable – a nice dinner, a fancy dessert, or some other bland pseudo-romantic indulgence.
Mr. Hesson
“I believe that the purpose of holidays is deeply personal, and that each of us should enjoy whatever celebrations we find meaningful. If some people value Valentine’s and use it to celebrate love with genuine gratitude and joy, then it could be a great thing for them. But I would imagine for many it serves no real purpose.
People often decry this holiday for being overly commercialized too. And yeah, it is. They all are. It doesn’t really bother me in this case. It would be nice if more of our celebrations could be dislodged from the machinery of business and capital, but that’s difficult to achieve in this country, and V-day is no more egregious in its commercialization than any of the other major holidays.”
6th Grader Millie Flemings answers simply:
“Personally I like Valentines, and I think of it more as a way to show your appreciation to people as a holiday for love.”
Millie Flemings
One of my favorite responses comes from one of our history teachers, Mr. Satterfield.
“Valentine’s Day, like any other holiday, is what you make of it. Critics will tell you that it is over-commercialized, that it puts pressure on those who are in relationships, and that it excludes those who are not. All of this is true, and the day can be a bleak one for many.
“Even so, you don’t have to go buy an overpriced gift of dubious utility. You don’t have to out-do last year. And you don’t have to wallow in loneliness. Instead, you can use Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to show someone how much you love them in whatever way you see fit (even if that person is yourself). That doesn’t have to cost a cent — it simply requires a thoughtful assessment of what your special person wants. More often than we realize, what that person really wants is time — quality time, uninterrupted and undistracted — with you.”
Mr. Satterfield
I don’t have too many strong opinions on Valentine’s Day myself, but the raspberry milk chocolates that arrive from See’s Candies are something I look forward to every year. I might even add spoon making to my calendar now.
Fun fact– if you want to see Saint Valentines in person, you can! His skull is supposedly in a church in Cosmedin, Rome (National Geographic).
What do you think about this holiday? Tell me in the comments!
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