Valentine's Day

Complaints about the commercialism of Christmas are all too common. People complain about others “taking the Christ out of Christmas.” Bumper stickers, Facebook posts, and television shows talk about the commercialization of the holiday. This is an annual complaint that has gone on for years. However, there is another holiday that has been completely commercialized, and much more effectively than Christmas—Valentine’s Day.

When one thinks about Valentine’s Day, flowers, romantic dinners at expensive restaurants, and jewelry are what come to mind. It is expected that the husband/boyfriend will provide these and other material gifts to the wife/girlfriend. If flowers, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, expensive jewelry, and other gifts are not provided along with a candle-lit dinner at a favorite restaurant, the couple will be extremely unhappy. It is popular to ask the question, “What are you doing for Valentine’s Day?” and to expect a response with the name of the person’s favorite restaurant.

Many people, myself included, really don’t like Valentine’s Day. In my opinion, it is so overcommercialized that the original meaning has been lost in the mists of yesteryear. Not many people, it seems, even know who St. Valentine was, never mind that the holiday was created in his name. David Kithcart, the 700 Club Features Director, quotes Father Frank O'Gara of Whitefriars Street Church in Dublin, Ireland as saying of St. Valentine that “he was a Roman Priest at a time when there was an emperor called Claudias who persecuted the church at that particular time” (2016, as cited by David Kithcart). According to David Kithcart’s article, Father O’Gara states that the emperor had issued an edict prohibiting soldiers from marrying, and that St. Valentine had secretly married couples to discourage polygamy in spite of this edict.

Another significant, yet unrecognized, event that occurred on Valentine’s Day is the St. Valentine’s Day massacre. On February 14, 1929, seven men were gunned down in a garage, an event that was ordered by Al Capone ("The St. Valentine's Day Massacre", n.d.). Despite the fact that this was a gang killing, and the seven men killed surely were not innocent of wrongdoing, the massacre was an event that has made its way into the pages of history.

Today’s Valentine’s Day celebrations do nothing to commemorate either the creation of Valentine’s Day or the massacre now associated with February 14^th. Instead, stores and commercials focus on selling boxes of candy, stuffed animals, flowers, and greeting cards to consumers. The items for sale are usually set up on display during the early part of January; advertisements are seen and heard almost constantly beginning around the end of January. If we as a group are concerned about the commercialization of holidays such as Christmas, should we not also go back to the roots of St. Valentine’s Day? 

References

Kithcart, D. (2016). St. Valentine, the real story. Retrieved from http://www1.cbn.com/st-valentine-real-story

The St. Valentine's Day massacre. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id27.htm