Hooray for Valentine’s Day

Reclaiming a Love for an Underrated Holiday

Valentine’s Day is entirely underrated. Now I’ll admit, the concept is weird. Some Roman emperor goes on a little killing spree in the third century, and now 1,800 years later we celebrate the day with flowers and chocolate and overwhelming feelings of romantic inadequacy? Seems whack. 

And the history is, indeed, a little whack. The origins of the holiday are as puzzling as the subject of its celebration. What we know for certain is that the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, and Roman Emperor Claudius II murdered two of them. 

Some believe the holiday’s romantic focus comes from Valentine’s alleged efforts to secretly perform marriages for young lovers after Claudius II decided to outlaw marriage for soldiers.

Some say Valentine helped Christians escape from violent Roman prisons—and fell in love with a prisoner’s daughter in the process.

Other stories suggest the celebration came about when in the fifth century the Christian church combined St. Valentine’s Day with an ancient purification festival called Lupercalia. 

The move was an effort to Christianize a pagan ritual that involved animal sacrifice and whipping women with bloody goat hide (you know, normal couple things). 

The point is, no one really knows where this holiday came from. And for many people in the U.S., Valentine’s Day holds less cultural and religious significance than other holidays like Christmas, Easter or even Saint Patrick’s Day. 

It’s arguably the most detached from its religious origins and I’m willing to bet few are thinking about pagan rituals as they’re scarfing chocolate-covered strawberries. 

And that’s what is so great about Valentine’s Day: we can turn it into a celebration of whatever we’d like. 

Growing up, Feb. 14 was one of my favorite days of the year. If it fell on a weekend, my brother and I would wake up to the smell of chocolate chip pancakes piled high with strawberries. If it was on a weekday, we’d find heart-shaped sandwiches and chocolate kisses in our lunch boxes. 

Valentine’s Day meant family dinners, hugs from my mom, and a feeling of excitement in the air, likely fueled by the inevitable sugar high. 

As I got older, I held onto my mom’s traditions. I would surprise my friends at school with heart-shaped cookies and flowers. 

I loved the break in routine during the gloomy post-Christmas winter months—it was an excuse to celebrate my friends and take a day to feel grateful for the people in my life I cared about. And I’m a sucker for a sappy rom-com. 

If you’re not into the bows and frills, take the day to do something nice for someone you care about. Pass on a beloved book to a dear friend. Shoot a text to someone you’ve been meaning to catch up with.

There are few things that I know for certain, but one of them is that doing something thoughtful for someone else can only bring goodness into the world. If that special person is a romantic partner, that’s wonderful! 

If it’s your best friend, or your mom or just someone you really appreciate (Cecilia from the Cellar in my case)—amazing! Putting romantic love on a pedestal is not only unrealistic but quite frankly problematic. 

While it would be wonderful if they were, romantic relationships aren’t inherently loving and beautiful and healthy. As we discussed, the origins of the holiday itself are bloody and violent: the ancient Roman couples were surely in dire need of couple’s therapy. I’d like to think we now have a better idea of what healthy, loving relationships look like. And we know that sometimes, the deepest love isn’t for a romantic partner. 

Valentine’s Day may be a little silly. But a lot of things humans do are silly—buying shoes for babies and clothes for dogs are near the top of a long list of nonsense. Existence itself is really quite silly. So why not cover it in chocolate and red bows for a day?

Carolyn Kuimelis is a sophomore economics major and opinion writer.