For as long as I can remember, I have loved Valentine’s Day and looked forward to it every year. In my childhood, I looked forward to celebrating with my family because they treated Valentine’s Day as a day just as special as Christmas to spend together.
In elementary school, I would exchange Valentine’s Day cards with my classmates while heart-shaped decorations, red streamers and balloons were set up for me to come home to. My cousins, aunts and uncles would all come over. We would share handmade Valentine’s cards cut from pink construction paper, written with glitter pens and end the night with dinner, usually Italian food.
The original Valentine’s Day originated from dark roots where Romans celebrated a feast of Lupercalia, a festival of “fertility and love” in early century Rome, according to npr.org, but also it celebrated Saint Valentine, a Roman saint executed for his Christian faith on Feb.14. As centuries progressed, the feast of Lupercalia softened and later was romanticized by Shakespeare. It helps shape modern Valentine’s Day.
It was a day of love with the people I loved and who loved me back. Now, as a 21-year-old adult, I carry that with me. Valentine’s Day for me has shifted to a more romantic love shared with a partner, but that would not be possible if it were not for my family giving this holiday a meaning of general love to me.
It is important to bring meaning to less prominent holidays, like Feb.14 and make them exciting for your children because the positivity will carry into adult life.
This shows prominently in Generation Z. It has now become more popular to redefine what love and relationships look like in life. Research done by Opentable, states that 70% of Gen Z is celebrating Valentine’s Day more inclusively and reservations for parties over two have increased by 34% for Feb.14. This is the rise of “Gal-entines” and “Pal-entines” celebrations.
Gen Z is among the first generations to break traditional celebrations of Valentine’s and popularize alternative celebrations and play up platonic love.
Children will always remember how their family made Valentine’s Day special for them, regardless of not having a traditional Valentine. They will continue to keep the same happiness that came from the holiday as they continue to grow.
They might host a galentine or palentine just because the holiday has always felt special to them.
Life is all about what you make of it and the traditions that your family creates. You could even be the person to start more non-traditional celebrations. I learned how to see a different side of this holiday, instead of moping around and being sad that I do not have a Valentine’s Day
I thought of Valentines as a day for my family to express their love for me as a child and now I express that same love now into the relationships in my adult life.
