Valentine’s Day finds its spot in one of several holidays universally celebrated with a long history going back to the Romans. There are a number of conflicting accounts about the origin of Valentine’s Day, but the consensus seems to be that Valentine’s Day historically commemorated Saint Valentine, the saint of courtly love. Although courting might be something reminiscent of Middle Age traditions, viewing present day Valentine’s Day celebrations through this lens shows that courtly love is still something we celebrate, especially on Valentine’s Day of all days.

A typical Valentine’s Day celebration might involve taking out a loved one, wining and dining, and presenting them with a gift at the end, all behaviours evocative of ‘courting’. Of course, present day celebrations don’t necessarily consciously align themselves with courtly love and are merely a reflection of people enjoying an age-old holiday. It does raise the question, however, of whether Valentine’s Day should continue to be a celebrated holiday.

Valentine’s Day’s commercialisation poses an issue, for instance. Supermarkets and retailers in the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day stock their shelves with food and gifts to be given to a loved one, exploiting the average consumer for money under the guise of celebrating a holiday. Another aspect oversees the exclusion of those who don’t celebrate the holiday but feel the pressure to, after years of the misconception that Valentine’s Day is the only day to make a loved one feel appreciated being enforced. Of course, the appreciation of a loved one can be celebrated on any day, but the attachments and associations with Valentine’s Day as the day to do it increases this pressure.

On the other side of the argument, Valentine’s Day marks a day for some people as an appreciation of friendships and romantic relationships. It is, for some, an anniversary for those who utilised Valentine’s Day to express how they felt about one another. As someone I spoke to about this said, Valentine’s Day is a holiday where people come together, to cultivate the relationships they later enjoy.

I don’t speak on this holiday for everyone but from personal experience, having felt the pressures in the build-up to Valentine’s Day, grappling with the idea of whether to fund the exploitation of retailers or not; or whether to not overthink the origins of the holiday and its current place in society, and to take my significant other out for a nice meal. There will always be the question of the place current holidays hold in our society, as there will always be the people who staunchly oppose it and those who enjoy celebrating it. More importantly, any holiday that we celebrate could be scrutinised under a microscope and its problematic aspects would be revealed.

I don’t have a definitive answer for the question of whether to continue celebrating Valentine’s Day. But I comfort myself with the knowledge that I am consciously weighing up the pros and cons of celebrating Valentine’s Day, and that I will probably go out with my significant other, but that we will always have the choice to not celebrate it and to appreciate one another some other day.

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