To some, Valentine's Day is to celebrate love and happiness. To me, it's a way to give money to the card industry. The way I see it, nobody was buying any Groundhog's day cards and they needed to make some money.
According to Hallmark, V-Day sells 188 million Valentine's Day cards a year. That doesn't even include the classroom card exchange with the cardboard shoe boxes! With that, it's one billion, taking second to Christmas.
Fifty million roses are sent each year. Fifteen percent of women buy flowers for themselves to make themselves feel better that they can't find a guy. This is what our society has come to.
Valentine's Day started out okay. It's a very old and religious holiday centered around Saint Valentine. Valentine's Day was an ancient Roman tradition. I guess with the Roman Empire, the original idea died, too. Emperor Claudius II decided young men should be soldiers, so he outlawed marriage. Valentine was upset and spoke out. He was thrown into prison and put to death. Before his death, Valentine wrote a letter to his love and signed it, "From your Valentine."
Not much else is known about St. Valentine. In fact, they aren't sure who it is. It is between three random clergymen - a priest in Rome, a bishop, and some random guy in Africa.
That's cool, but does anyone go to church on Valentine's Day? How many people even know the story of St. Valentine? Cupid, the baby who flies around in a diaper shooting love arrows, is the son of Venus, the goddess of beauty. Yep, Roman mythology. He fell in love with Psyche. Venus was jealous of her beauty and killed Psyche. Cupid brought her back to life and they lived happily. Gag me.
Today, Valentine's Day is all fake and phony. In high school, it's all about the cheerleaders rubbing it in your face that you don't have a boyfriend. Is that what being Christian is about? No. The meaning of Valentine's Day is gone because society rewrote it.
Article comments
1 - Jessica
Hey Maddy,
Great info on V Day! I just saw this video about alternative dates and activities for the romantic holiday you should check out if you're interested in different things to do!
2 - Baronius
Interesting. I'm in a discussion on another board about Kwanzaa vs. Christmas. It really seems like we've lost the original point of so many holidays.
3 - Victor Lana
Very nice and refreshing look at V-Day. I trust that many others will see like you have that this day has been corrupted. Love is not to be celebrated one day a year but 365 days a year.
Now, let's tell that to all the retail and restaurant establishments who "bank" on that day to pull them out of the winter doldrums.
4 - Joanne Huspek
Valentine's Day is a good reason to jack up the price of roses and Godiva chocolate. My favorite thing to do is to buy those items the week after. I love a good sale...
5 - Cole Samuel
Valentine's day for me is highly irrelevant as a Christian.To my opinion, the Christain walk is a walk of love and one should have no special day for celebrating love because the love life is our way of life.