The Valentine’s Day that is widely celebrated today originated in the third century because of a Roman emperor, Claudius II, and a Christian, Valentinus. Emperor Claudius had made it illegal to be a Christian, but Valentinus remained steadfast in his beliefs. Unfortunately, his beliefs caused him to be arrested and jailed by the emperor. A fellow inmate, realizing that Valentinus was an educated man who enjoyed learning, decided that he wanted Valentinus to educate his daughter. So for several weeks, Valentinus taught the inmate’s disabled daughter about Roman history, nature, and God. He grew to share a special bond with the inmate’s blind daughter, who began to see the world through his eyes. The night before his death, Valentinus wrote one last letter addressed to the inmate’s daughter, signed “From your Valentine”.
This holiday is often associated with love, hearts, and flowers, which are all symbols that have positive connotations. Valentine’s Day gifts, which are often composed of these symbols, are typically targeted at couples of any age, but have developed to include relatives, friends, and even classmates. According to research conducted by the Harvard Research School, the single men demographic spends the most money on this holiday. Married men and single women follow behind with married women generally spending the least amount of money on Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day is celebrated in America for a few reasons such as consumerism, compensation, and herd mentality. For retailers, this holiday greatly benefits their candy, flower, and jewelry sales. These sales also reflect the economy being in good standing. Valentine’s Day gives consumers a reason to spend their money, instead of randomly purchasing gifts on a regular weekday. Therefore, when consumers check their expenditures at the end of the month, they will know that they spent a certain amount of money for a holiday and not a random splurge. Lastly, nobody has to wonder how to celebrate this holiday because all Americans typically celebrate it in the same manner; everybody purchases candy, flowers, or jewelry as a token of love. These reasons for celebrating the holiday imply that Americans easily fall into consumerism culture because they can trick themselves into thinking that the expenditure is not routine and that everybody else is doing it too.
Many cultural factors contribute to the celebration of Valentine’s Day. Norms cause people to expect tokens of love, usually gifts, from their significant other or loved ones. For example, norms cause many women to expect to receive a bouquet of flowers on this holiday. Additionally, scripts teach people to tell their significant others that they love them because it is a required aspect of Valentine’s Day. For example, my roommate’s long distance boyfriend was very upset that he could not tell her that he loved her until Valentine’s Day was nearly over, even though his love for her was already assumed information. Furthermore, impression management can be witnessed all over social media as couples post pictures of their gifts so that they can prove to their followers that they are in a loving relationship. For example, when I checked my social media one last time on Valentine’s Day, it seemed like my entire feed on all of my social media was just people showing off their gifts from their significant other. These cultural factors can affect people who are in relationships that have not been made official. Therefore, Valentine’s Day has come to be known as the perfect anniversary or wedding date.
This holiday is also celebrated in many other countries, especially Westernized countries. In England, a woman will traditionally place five bay leaves that are damp with rosewater on each corner and the center of her pillow in order to dream about her future husband. While South Korean couples celebrate the holiday in a traditionally American way, single South Koreans mourn their relationship status by consuming a bowl of black bean paste noodles. Additionally, in South Africa, women literally wear their hearts upon their sleeves by pinning the name of their love interest to their shirtsleeves for all to see. Although many other countries also celebrate this holiday, their celebrations typically involve a much lower level of consumerism which testifies to the strong influence that consumerism has on America and its celebrations.