Valentine’s Day

Feb

2007

Filed Under:

Comments

For the past 3 years or so, Valentine’s Day has been nothing more than a normal day for me. There were no trips to the store to buy flowers, chocolates, cards, teddy bears, or other mass produced objects. I never sat around my house for hours at a time composing a brilliant story, song, poem, or design. For this reason, I never thought much about the construction of Valentine’s Day, or the meaning behind it. However, I recently met a quite extraordinary person and I presently find myself caught up in the excitement of this holiday, which prompted me to examine the creation of the holiday, and more importantly, the transformation of the holiday by our capitalistic society. The history of Valentine’s Day is somewhat shrouded in mystery, but it can be traced back to the 14th or 15th century with numerous theories involving romantic letters between lovers. Two of the most popular theories are:

On the evening before Valentine was to be martyred for being a Christian, he passed a love note to his jailer’s daughter that read, “From your Valentine.”
During a ban on marriages of Roman soldiers by the Emperor Claudius II, St. Valentine secretly helped arrange marriages.

Regardless of how the holiday was conceived, it is certain that it is at least 400 to 500 years old. In terms of romanticism, it seems that the earlier versions of this holiday must have been slightly more poetic and personal than the modern construction that it is today. For around $5O I can purchase a perfectly acceptable gift or gifts that is socially acceptable. However, it is highly doubtful that these gifts will have the same effect as a heartfelt letter or handpicked flowers from the nearby countryside. Which led me to my initial grievance with the current state of Valentine’s Day in America, or Western culture for that matter. According to MSNBC, consumers were expected to spend 13.7 billion dollars on Valentine’s Day alone in 2006, which is up 22% from 5 years ago. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with Valentine’s Day, in fact, I think there should be more days like Valentine’s Day, many more. However, these days should be holidays between two people, not 7 billion people. Capitalism has once again transformed a romantic story of love into a multi-billion dollar profit generating machine. So here’s to all the roses, chocolates, and teddy bears being sent around the world today, however I doubt you will receive the appropriate thank you letter from the CEO of Hallmark.