Valentine’s Day, the day of love and romance or corporate America’s favorite day of gaslighting the people? (i.e. materialism at its finest).

Personally, I find that as we follow the evolution of Valentine’s Day through history, it only became more commercialized and materialistic as time and people did.

According to Britannica, Valentine’s Day originated from the Roman festival of Lupercalia, which celebrated the coming of spring and included fertility rites and the pairing off of women with men by lottery. At the end of the fifth century, the celebration of Lupercalia was forbidden by Pope Gelasius and was replaced with a holiday of Christian influence: St. Valentine’s Day.

However, Valentine’s Day was not celebrated in a romantic context until the 14th century when literature and poetry began to describe the holiday romantically throughout the 15th century.

Then, with the rise of industrialization and mass production in the 19th century, it was only natural that Valentine’s Day fell prey to the power of corporations. By the 20th century, companies like Hallmark and Russel Stover began profiting off mass-produced Valentine’s Day cards and chocolates that ultimately turned the holiday into the consumer-driven occasion we know and love today.

As corporations began to grow in what was offered for the holiday, more expensive flowers or larger teddy bears, the expectation of what to give grew with it. Therefore, continually pushing the idea that products symbolize love and the more money spent on a gift, the more meaningful the gesture.

This is how expectations and high standards for Valentine’s Day arose. This is how the holiday became commercialized and materialistic. But I ask, is it materialistic to fall prey to the expectations set out of your control?

While it is undoubtedly materialistic in the sense of buying and consuming mass amounts of product, does this take out any romance behind Valentine’s Day gestures?

I’d argue that Valentine’s Day has only become a deeply commercialized day because we are deeply commercialized people. And deeply commercialized people can still feel and express love, can they not? Just because I like a good shopping spree and receiving some expensive gifts can I not accept romance? Can I not show romance? See how silly that sounds?

Therefore, Valentine’s Day can not be only one: materialistic or romantic. As most things are, it is to the eye of the beholder.

So when celebrating Valentine’s Day with a significant other, it is important that you understand the expectations of your partner rather than that of corporate America and the standards set around you.

In the end, it is someone’s choice to celebrate Valentine’s Day with their significant other. Therefore, to make the choice to buy or do anything is romantic in itself.