Valentine’s Day is the holiday celebrating love. On Valentine’s Day, which is celebrated on February 14th, lovers exchange love notes, gifts and mementos that express their love. While Valentine’s Day is now a mult-billion dollar industry, its roots date all the way back to the Middle Ages.
While the exact origins of Valentine’s Day are disputed, most historians agree that Valentine’s Day can be traced back to the Roman Empire. Fertility festivals were held on February 14th and those festivals eventually evolved into what we see today and celebrate as Valentine’s Day.
Nowadays, many customs and traditions are involved with Valentine’s Day. If you are in a relationship, it’s customary to give your significant other a Valentine’s Day greeting card. These greeting cards can bought in stores across the country and contain are meant to express your love for the person.
If you don’t want to purchase a store bought greeting card, it’s also acceptable to make your own Valentine’s Day card. The card should contain a personalized note expressing your love. It can also contain drawings, photographs or anything else that can symbolize how much you love your significant other.
In addition to greeting cards, it’s become customary to give your significant other candy on Valentine’s Day. Most candy given on Valentine’s Day is chocolate candy. In fact, over a billion dollars a year is spent on chocolate candy for Valentine’s Day.
Flowers are another Valentine’s Day favorite. Like chocolate, billions of dollars are spent on flowers on the days surrounding Valentine’s Day. It’s quite common to buy your significant other a bouquet of flowers as a symbol of your love.
To further celebrate Valentine’s Day, many couples opt on a night out on the town. The night out can include a dinner at an upscale restaurant and then attending a movie. There are also social gatherings on Valentine’s Day in nearly every city that couples can attend to celebrate their love.
If you don’t have a significant other, you aren’t out of luck on Valentine’s Day. In fact, Valentine’s Day is a good day to try to meet another single person. Asking someone out on a Valentine’s Day date is just as much of a tradition as any other Valentine’s Day event. If you dating or married on Valentine’s Day, you can use a Valentine’s Day date as a way to get to know someone better who you may be interested in.
An oftentimes overlooked aspect of Valentine’s Day is Valentine’s Day is also a great time to express to your friends and family how much you appreciate them. Some people make the mistake of thinking Valentine’s Day is all about your significant other or trying to line up a date, when in fact it has a much broader scope.
Valentine’s Day is a day to let people know that you care. If you have family that you don’t speak to often, use Valentine’s Day as a reason to call and express your feelings.
Valentine’s Day also isn’t just for adults. At schools across the country, kids exchange Valentine’s Day cards. Games and parties are also planned on Valentine’s Day on schools across the country. The difference when kids celebrate Valentine’s Day is they do it as a group event instead of on a one-on-one basis. Typically, it isn’t until high school that Valentine’s Day takes on more of a one-on-one meaning.
Over the years, various symbols have become synonymous with Valentine’s Day. Perhaps the most popular of these symbols is Cupid. Cupid, in Roman mythology, is the god of love. Depicted as a smallish figure with wings and a bow, the legend is that whomever Cupid shoots with an arrow will fall in love with the next individual that the person lays their eyes upon. A person in love around Valentine’s Day is said to have been “shoot with one of Cupid’s arrows.” Cupid is often depicted on Valentine’s Day greeting cards as an overall symbol of love.
While flowers in general have meaning on Valentine’s Day, roses are especially symbolic. If you give someone a rose, the color of the rose has become an indication of your interest level. Red roses are given as a symbol of deep love and passion. White roses are similar to red roses, however they are used to indicate long-lasting, true love that has withstood the test of time. Pink roses are used to symbolize a bond that could blossom into love, while yellow roses are friendship roses. Sadness or loss can be shown by giving a black rose.
Another symbol that is seen everywhere when Valentine’s Day approaches is the heart with an arrow through it. The arrow, which is obviously one of Cupid’s arrows, is used to indicate that your heart is in love with someone. Additionally, the heart shape is popular in many other forms including heart shaped candy and heart shaped Valentine’s Day greeting cards.
Certain animals are also traditionally used on Valentine’s Day. Lovebirds and doves are perhaps the two most popularly used animals. According to various legends, February 14th marked the day that birds found their mate, which ties right in with Valentine’s Day. Other animals, such as puppies and kittens, are used to symbolize caring and compassion on Valentine’s Day.
The United States, while arguably the most active country on Valentine’s Day, isn’t the only country to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Countries from all around the world commemorate Valentine’s Day, with each country having their own customs and traditions.
Finland’s version of Valentine’s Day is known as “Friend’s Day” and, as the name suggests, it’s a day more geared toward being with and honoring your friends. In Japan, Valentine’s Day is when females buy chocolate and flowers to men, while men return the favor one month later. People in Norway tend to forgo most of the Valentine’s Day activities, however it is customary to eat a dinner with a loved one. In Slovenia, Valentine’s Day also marks the day that flowers and plants begin to grow their roots.
In addition to separate customs and traditions, some countries celebrate a Valentine’s Day type event on a different date of the year. Brazil celebrates their version of Valentine’s Day on June 12th. Romania celebrates on February 24th. In Jewish culture, a Valentine’s Day type date takes place in late August.
While countries may celebrate Valentine’s Day differently or even celebrate it on a different date, February 14th is becoming more and more a universal date of love. Almost all countries around the world have seen an increase in the publicity and notoriety given to the American date and traditions associated with Valentine’s Day. Over time, Valentine’s Day, as those in the United States know it, has become a more of a worldwide holiday.
With all the customs and traditions involved in commemorating Valentine’s Day, it’s easy to forget the main purpose of the holiday – which is to let the ones you love know that you love them. If you are in a relationship, don’t forget to let your significant other know how much you care. Whether you decide to get a Valentine’s Day greeting card, flowers, candy or anything else related to Valentine’s Day, the thought is what counts the most.
photo credit: butterflysha, vintage collector, jstick
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Tags: Society by Kori Ellis
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