February Edition︱Holidays
Valentines Day - Why? | By Sabrina L.
Valentine’s Day is a day that many people cannot fully understand. Valentine’s Day begs the question, why and how has this holiday changed from being about honoring a dead saint to becoming about love, Cupid, roses, couples, and CANDY? Let’s take a look into Valentine’s Day history to fully understand. The history of Valentine’s Day can be summed up into 6 parts: (1)The death of the priest, (2 )the festival of Lupercalia, (3) the association with romantic love, (4) the use of greeting cards and (5) the use of symbols. The first part of the history of Valentine’s Day is the death of the Catholic priest named Valentine. During the 3rd century, he was beheaded on February 14 for officiating the marriage of a soldier with his beloved, which went against Emperor Claudius II's decree. This decree stated that the soldiers shouldn’t be married. The second part of the history of Valentine’s Day is the festival of Lupercalia, which was a Roman festival used to celebrate the god of fertility. Romans would sacrifice male goats to make hide. The hide would then be used to “ward off” infertility. During the 5th century, the Catholic Church introduced the feast of Saint Valentine’s in an effort to christianized the pagan festival. The third part of this history lesson is the association of Valentine’s Day with romantic love. In the 14th or 15th century, Valentine’s Day become known as love holiday. This is because of the tradition of courtly love which involved grand gestures and gifts, such as love letters and poetry. Geoffrey Chaucer helped with popularizing the romantic association to Valentine's Day through his poem "The Parliament of Fowls", which is a poem about birds finding a partner on Valentine’s Day. The fourth part of the history of Valentine’s Day is the use of greeting cards. The only surviving greeting card for Valentine’s Day was found in the 15 century on paper in French but it’s suspected that cards were used earlier then that. In the 1700s handmade Valentine's Day cards most likely began in America, mid-century in boxed punch-out cards became readily available and hallmark began selling inexpensive cards with innovative design and packaging. In the 1800s the availability of cheap paper and new printing techniques made Valentine's cards more accessible 1830s manufactured cards appeared in England and in the 1840s the introduction of the Uniform Penny Post in Britain made it cheaper to mail letters. The fifth and final part of the history of Valentine’s Day is the use of symbols. These symbols are Cupid, roses, hearts and doves. Cupid is the god of love who back then was seen as the most beautiful man in the world aka an adult but now is seen as a baby with a diaper and a bow and arrow. Roses are known for their association with love and beauty, a perfect choice for this loveful holiday. Hearts have a history with Saint Valentines since the heart shape is said to have come from the shape of the silphium plant seed pod which according to legend Saint Valentine would cut out heart in parchment to soldiers and persecuted Christian’s. Most of these symbols got their popularity from the Victorian era by Cupid being used on cards and roses were used to convey messages. Chocolate got its popularity thanks to Richard Cadbury of the Cadbury chocolate empire and the company would design heart shaped boxes to packages and sell chocolate. Valentine’s Day's main focus is romantic love but recently in the modern era it was perceived as family love and friendship such as Galentine’s day. Valentine’s Day is now know for being in a relationship with someone but its doesn’t mean you need a partner.
Valentines Day | By Galitte S.
Valentine’s Day Commercialism
Why is Valentine’s Day so exploited in modern society? Companies plaster pink and red hearts on their products and deem it Valentine themed. This functions as a justification for them to increase their prices. The day does not make the product is any different. Modern day society has turned a day of love into a way to trick consumers into buying overpriced Valentine’s Day items. 19th Century industrialization grasped onto every marketing opportunity it could get its hands on, this included Valentine’s Day.
GENERAL EXPLOITATION
Companies make an average of twenty million dollars every Valentine’s Day off of their heart-themed products. And shrinkflation makes the Valentine’s Day marketing tactic that much more necessary for companies to survive in the modern economy. Valentines marketing is one domino in a chain reaction. Nearly every holiday is exploited but Valentine’s Day tops each one.
RESTAURANTS
How does it top other holidays exploitation? Restaurants! Valentine’s Day is a time of love, and so many couples go out together, traditionally to restaurants. And so restaurants get in on the marketing scheme as well and design special Valentine’s Day menus with similar dishes but higher prices.
SOCIAL MEDIA
But the biggest genre of companies of all takes the gold, social media. Influencers and apps such as Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok make unimaginable profits off of Valentine’s Day trends, vlogs, etc. And every company benefits off of it because their products are included in these videos. But regardless, happy Valentine’s Day.
How would you celebrate Valentine’s Day without giving into the marketing scheme?