Hey angels 💋
I was sitting in my Irish class the other day when a girl and a boy (to whom I have spoken a maximum of two words to in my entire existence) were talking about the values of Valentine's day, in short, the boy was saying that he wanted a box of chocolates from his girlfriend but the girl was saying that valentine's day is just for girls to get gifts, this conversation confused me as I was always told that valentine's day was just about love, weather that's your partner, your best friends, your parents, your grandparents or even your pets, it isn't about the gifts you receive but the love and admiration that is shared between two people, this led me to wonder the history of valentines and how people a hundred years ago viewed love, and what Valentine's meant to them, so here I am, writing a out how valentine's began and how much it has changed.
the history of Valentine's day
Valentine's day began with the Christian martyr, saint Valentine. there are numerous stories about saint Valentine, early stories say that he gave sight back to his jailers daughter while later stories state that he performed weddings for people who were forbidden to marry by the roman emperor.
The first ever known celebration of Valentine's day was mentioned in an 8th century book called the "gelasian sacaramentry", the second oldest Christian liturigical book. The day began to be associated with romance during the 14th and 15th centuries, in England couples began giving each other gifts such as flowers and cards, which is more similar to the Valentine's we have nowadays. It isn't fully known how it became a romantic holiday, there is lots of speculation between historians but there is no full evidence. One of the most popular reasons is because a roman holiday celebrated between the 13th and 14th of February that celebrated love and romance may have been involved but there is no evidence that connects the two.
Modern Valentine's
In 2015 around £1.5 billion pounds was spend on cards, flowers and chocolates around valentine's day in the UK, but east Asia spends the most on valentine's each year at around 31.2 billion a year.
Valentine's day is a popular holiday that in recent has inspired other holidays such as 'galentines', a day for girls to get together and celebrate friendship rather than relationships. But Valentine's day has also become a day full of jealousy online, with people posting sarcastic videos on the internet wishing for couples to break up on Valentine's day, these videos show a new side of Valentine's where single people find it an awful holiday as they have nobody to celebrate it with, this is where my opinion differs as I believe you can spend valentine's with anyone and it doesn't have to be a 'romantic' holiday. I personally believe this links into how much our generation is so consumed by dating and the need to be in a relationship for validation.
This also brings us back to the argument of Valentine's being a holiday for girls to get gifts, this is a reflection on current dating culture and how this beautiful holiday is getting boiled down to just 'girls getting gifts'.
So can boys receive gifts for Valentine's day?
Of course! The holiday is so much more than just girls getting gifts, its about love and connection, and if your way of showing that is through gifts than so be it, but never let anyone tell you how you should express your love, as love is never going to be the same for everyone, it is fluid that moves and changes and shows in different forms, it can be platonic, romantic, unrequited, selfless and enduring.
love is whatever you have in your heart.
I hope you all enjoyed your Valentine's day, whether or not you had a Valentine, sorry for the short post and not being so active! If you are interested in writing poetry or short stories make sure to send us some of them to our email: thelimerickgal@gmail.com, so we can post them on Wednesday!
until next time.....Xoxo
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