Do you know your Valentines?

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By: Nate Webster LMHC
           


            Many people have mixed feelings about Valentines Day. Some think its shallow and materialistic, others think it is romantic and important to their relationship. And of course there are those who are just reminded of how lonely they are on the holiday! But regardless of how you may feel about Valentines Day, Americans spend around 18 billion dollars a year on it, which is a lot of flowers, candy and cards. So where did Valentines Day come from and how is it celebrated around the world? Well there are three or four theories as to where it began. We know from history that the Catholic Church recognizes at least three saints named Valentine, each with various legends about who they were and what they did. The one that I really liked lived during the reign of Claudius the 2nd, a ruler of Rome during the 2nd and 3rd century. When Claudius was the ruler, he thought that men would make better soldiers when they didn’t have wives or children to think back home. So he outlawed marriage for anyone in the military, expect there was a very sneaky holy priest in Rome named Valentine, who took issue with this edict from Claudius believing it to be unjust and cruel. Thus he continued to marry solders to their lovers in secret, until he was eventually discovered and martyred for it. What an incredible purpose to give your life for! Helping people who want to get married, but can’t because of the law!
           
Another interesting topic around Valentines Day is exploring the way it is celebrated in different parts of the world. One of my favorite ways that Valentines is celebration outside of America has to be the way they do it in South Korea.
           
In South Korea, they actually have two Valentines Day’s, one on February 14th where the woman traditionally buys the man a gift and then again on March 14th called White Day, where the man returns the favor with gifts as well. What’s even more interesting is that South Korea has even another Valentines type holiday called Black Day. Black Day is a holiday celebrated specifically for singles in Korea, and is a day when all the singles in South Korea gather to mourn and eat their feelings about being single with a literal dish called black bean paste sauce. It looks like a pretty good dish to get through the doldrums of loneliness, but I’m not sure about having a whole day dedicated to it.

So whether you think the holiday is dumb, or take it super seriously, or maybe you have no one to celebrate it with, it really is a holiday just about celebrating love. Whether that’s loving a partner, loving a friend or just loving yourself. So try and have some fun this year and definitely get some chocolate!




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