When it comes to holidays, people tend to think of the major ones, like Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter. Even smaller ones like Halloween or St. Patrick’s Day might even make the list.
While all of these holidays all have some sort of cultural or religious significance behind them, one comes to mind that can raise a few eyebrows as to whether or not it has any meaning behind it.
Valentine’s Day has always been viewed as a romantic holiday; a day to spend time with that special someone.
Yes every holiday has been commercialized to a certain degree. Thanksgiving and Christmas are the obvious ones.
On its face, Valentine’s Day almost seems like a Hallmark creation invented to sell cards and candy.
Last Feb. 14, CNN.com released some statistics about Valentine’s Day. The news outlet projected that the average person would spend around $130 in total on that day. In addition, they anticipated that, across the country, $1.6 billion would be spent on candy, $1.9 billion on flowers and $4.4 billion on jewelry. The article also forecasted that 145 million cards would be sold and there were a whopping 1,400 different varieties of Hallmark cards available to choose from.
When one looks at these numbers, it’s clear that companies like Hallmark, Russell Stover and ProFlowers.com will be in for some pretty good sales figures leading up to Feb. 14. But despite this rise in sales, there is still a romantic aspect to Valentine’s Day as well.
Whether it’s because of pressure from adjusting to a new semester of classes or working a part-time job, busy schedules can make it hard to spend time with the people that matter to us.
Even if we find the time, it’s difficult to do anything overly romantic or out of the ordinary for that special someone. Luckily, there is one day a year specifically designated just for that.
Speaking as someone who will be spending Feb. 14 with a Valentine for the first time this year, I can now see things from this perspective. Having never dated in high school, I became something of a Grinch when it came to Valentine’s Day.
I always believed the stigma illustrated in that CNN article, that it was simply a day meant to bolster flower sales. But just as the Grinch realized there was more to Christmas, I can now see there is more to Valentine’s Day.
It’s about spending time with the people we love, showing them our appreciation and hopefully becoming closer to them in the process.
And I’m hoping that will be the case for me and my valentine. Love you Ashley.
So whether it was invented to sell cards or not, there is some merit to Valentine’s Day. Hershey’s may experience record sales and the hunt for red roses may turn out to be as hard as Peyton Manning’s hunt for the end zone at MetLife Stadium.
But while it may not have any sort of cultural or religious meaning like other major holidays, the significance of Valentine’s Day is still straightforward: to show the important people in our lives how much we appreciate them.
PHOTO TAKEN from janebower.com
