Valentine’s Day transcends normative romantic love for students

The National Retail Federation said that consumers spent $19.6 billion for Valentine’s Day in 2019.

From ancient Roman fertility rituals, to the first love letter, to mass-produced holiday cards; a lot has changed about how humans celebrate love.

“I love romance movies and I’m just a hopeless romantic, so Valentine’s Day for me is my favorite day to people watch,” said Mira Thekdi, a junior business administration major. “Last year, I was in Dublin on Valentine’s Day, and (my friend) and I counted the number of bouquets we would see around the city. I feel like people are really happy. I’m in a great mood on Valentine’s Day.” Images of Valentine’s Day — red and pink hearts, shiny jewelry, and gaudy chocolate boxes — float around storefronts and phone screens the moment consumers even begin to work on their New Year’s resolutions. But to millennials, Valentine’s Day might not be such a big deal.

Although fewer Americans celebrated Valentine’s Day in 2019, those surveyed by the National Retail Federation planned to spend an average $196.31 on the holiday. “I understand the nicety of Valentine’s Day and how if you have somebody it’s a nice day to be special with them,” said Avery Girion, a junior television writing and production major. “But I also think that it’s very commercialized and especially in this day and age, you want to be able to get to that level of love, experience, and romance; but Valentine’s Day puts it on a pedestal.”

In recent years, Galentine’s Day has taken a new foothold in the month of February after it came to fruition on the popular television show, Parks and Recreation. Celebrated on Feb. 13, both Galentine’s and Palentine’s Day are days for spending quality time with friends and celebrating non-romantic relationships. “It’s not just getting together with a romantic interest, but spreading love to people you do appreciate whether it be family or friends,” said Axl Avenido, a junior communication major. “That’s why we have Palentine’s day and Galentine’s day. I feel like people, especially our college generation, should take that as more of a ‘love everybody’ sort of thing.

Thekdi sees Valentine’s Day as a chance to celebrate platonic relationships as well as romantic ones. “I celebrate more with my friends the day before — I do a Galentine’s day thing,” she said. “But I think Valentine’s Day is about all sorts of love. My mom used to get my brother and I gifts on Valentine’s Day too. I grew up with it being more of an overall love thing and not just a romantic love thing.” Thekdi believes that over the past five to 10 years, Valentine’s Day has become more inclusive to all types of relationships — but she said there is still work that needs to be done.

“I feel like the world is evolving and as a society we are getting more accepting and things are moving in a different direction. You’re not going to stop those older notions, but I can see the new ones coming in,” she said. In the midst of the new year and new semester, Avenido also doesn’t forget to put a focus on self-love during this romantically commercialized holiday.

“I see Valentine’s Day as just a day for me to emphasize what love means to me whether it be for myself or my friends,” Avenido said. “I know that I am a super hopeless romantic and it’s sad that I’m single after 20 years of my life but I like to look on the bright side of things.”