Celebrating Valentine’s Day with history!

As kids, we all gave our sweethearts cute cards with characters and candy attached; however, now people are spending exorbitant amounts of money to give them any and everything they want. Few people know the true meaning of this holiday.

According to The Telegraph, a London newspaper, the holiday has its origins as far back as an Ancient Roman fertility festival, when boys would slice goats for fertility and dogs for purification, while Roman women would welcome being touched with hides to become more fertile the next year.

Later, the Catholic Church recognized Valentine of Terni as a saint after he was martyred for his faith. Supposedly, he died on February 14, but that may just be an embellishment of the story.

Another Valentine, Valentine of Rome, was arrested in 289 A.D. for giving aid to prisoners. According to one legend, Valentine actually sent the first valentine greeting himself. While imprisoned, he fell in love with a young girl, the jailer’s daughter to be exact, whose blinded eyes he had healed. He wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine” before he died on February 14.

In another version of this Valentine’s story, he secretly married young lovers in defiance of Emperor Claudius II’s order for single men not to be married. Claudius felt that men without families made better soldiers. After Claudius discovered his deceptive practices, he ordered Valentine to be put to death.

History.com has a different take on why the middle of February was chosen to commemorate Valentine’s death. Apparently in 496, Pope Gelasius declared February 14 Valentine’s Day around so that Christians could continue to celebrate pagan festivals.

Other mentions of the holiday in the works of Chaucer and Shakespeare indicate that the day was celebrated in England prior to 1601, but the passing of love notes did not become popular until the middle of the eighteenth century there.

Modern-day celebrations of this romantic holiday probably began in 1913 with the publication of the first Hallmark Valentine’s Day card. Since then, Valentine’s Day has exploded commercially, racking up over 1 billion card sales last year alone.

Valentine’s Day SHOULD be a school hoilday

If there is one thing that students love most, it is holidays. Besides the joy that comes from celebrating the holiday, in a school year, it means time off. We get out of school for the obvious holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and Presidents’ Day. But what about another holiday that is important to a lot of people, Valentine’s Day?

You read that right, I think we should get Valentine’s Day off. It’s not that far-fetched. Think about it like this: If we get two weeks off in which we give stuff to each other, why can’t we get one more day to do the exact same thing? Christmas is nothing like Valentine’s Day, but they share the same idea, right?

Besides, with all the candy that students receive during Valentine’s Day, how can they not get a mean sugar rush? They get candy from their families and their sweethearts, and they’ve eaten it by the time they get into school. By 7 a.m., they are hyper like they’ve drunk ten cups of coffee, and it only gets worse throughout the day. Don’t behavior problems increase when students are riddled with caffeine and sugar?

Also, with Valentine’s balloons being made bigger and bigger by the year, how will a tiny classroom not be clogged with these giant balloons? These things are distracting enough for birthdays; just imagine how many there will be for Valentine’s. If they can’t fit it through the door, they will have to be abandoned in the hallways, and then the hallways would be blocked, so nobody can get out of their classrooms. There is little a teen hates more then being trapped in a classroom all day.

Finally, with all the love being shown by all the teens all day, how will those broken-hearted students and teachers see all that love and get through the day? This day, seen by many as one of the happiest days of the year, is their worst day. If Valentine’s Day were a holiday, it would be great for both the loved and the been-loved. The been-loved students could alienate everybody and make the day a bummer. The been-loved teachers could be mad enough that they could give students extra-extra-extra homework. That is not how you want to spend your Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day is a wonderful time. You don’t have to only show love to your significant other, but to your family also. It is a time of love and affection. It is almost like a secondary Christmas. Isn’t that enough to make this a school holiday?

Loving through song! The Valentine’s Day playlist

Couples spend a great deal of money for their significant other on Valentine’s Day, but why? Yes, love is in the air, and everybody wants to show how much they care for their mate, but why spend all this money when time is all that is necessary?

A custom music playlist can remind that special someone, of the first date, or the first kiss, and even the bad times that made your love so much stronger. From oldies to new generation love songs, music can always take you back to your sweetheart’s arms, and help channel the anger of a broken heart to heal it.

This list contains songs from all generations that could make a Valentine’s Day playlist:

For Couples In Love:

“Dangerously in Love” –Destiny’s Child
–This song describes how strong a woman’s love can be for a man, that she is so in love it is dangerous.

“I Could Fall in Love” –Selena
–Holding back love because it is so easy to fall in love.

“What A Girl Wants” –Christina Aguilera
–A song of appreciation a girl gives a guy for knowing what she wants and how to treat her, a simple thank you.

“If This World Were Mine” –Luther Vandross
–Love being explained metaphorically.

“Teenage Dream” –Katy Perry
–Teenage love song about how young love can make you feel.

“Only Exception” –Paramore
–Love song about there only being one person that can possibly make you love again.

“Mine” –Taylor Swift
–Love song celebration about one being happy to have their significant other.

For The Singles:

“Find Your Love” –Drake
–An upbeat song explaining how a person is giving there love away and expects love in return.

“Gone” –N Sync
–Mournful song of losing love to mistakes.

“Since You’ve Been Gone” –Kelly Clarkson
–Mourns a break-up but celebrates being single.

For The Broken Hearted:

“Cry Me A River” –Justin Timberlake
–A break up song, because of dishonesty or infidelity.

“Over” –Jessie McCartney
–Another break up song because of lost feelings.

“Heartless” –Kanye West
–A song about how the other partner does not care anymore.

“Officially Missing You” –Tamia
–A song about missing love and not being able to get over it.

For the Angry Singles:

“Irreplaceable” –Beyonce
–Song about how she can find someone else to replace him.

“Before He Cheats” –Carrie Underwood
–Song about a cheating boyfriend.

“Love Stinks” –J.Geils Band
–Love will find you then love will leave you.

The playlist is all about how Valentine’s Day makes one feel, and it should be inspired the heart with music expressing the feelings. A play list can really help those Valentine’s Day love birds, that single looking, or that broken heart looking to be free.

Bah! Luv-bug!

A room the color of the reddest roses. Candles sputtering faintly in the dimming twilight. A table for two decked out with beautiful china and mouthwatering food and delicacies. The perfect setting for a romantic Valentine’s Day meal. Only guess what? It’s not for you!

Many people fail to realize that Valentine’s Day can be complete and utter torture for people who have committed the unpardonable sin of having no significant other. The romantic atmosphere often triggers the gag reflex for people who want to stay single and draws tears from those who still haven’t found “the one.” The first group feels suffocated with the open, overemotional displays of affection and remain convinced that love is an onerous curse. But for the second group, loneliness and isolation permeate the air, along with poisonous thoughts such as, “Will I stay single forever?”

However, for some single people, Valentine’s Day can be an enjoyable, amusing experience. All the singles out there need other options for enjoying this day of love.

First of all, they need to get their heads out of the dirt! Valentine’s Day is never all it’s cracked up to be! Its main purpose is to sell, sell, sell: candy, chocolate, flowers, stuffed animals–if you can name it, then it’s probably sold on Lovers’ Day!

Also, there are other single people in the world. (I know…shocking, right?) Single people just need to take the initiative to round up some fellow single friends and do something fun together: go see a movie, play a game, or even just sit around and talk. The more, the merrier. And when more single people get together, they can be merrier about Valentine’s Day. Who knows? They can even end up laughing about all those couples out there who have to put up with each other for the whole day.

Some of these suggestions may not appeal to those who actually wish to have a boyfriend or girlfriend, though. What are they to do? Every time they get gloomy about their relationship status, they should list at least five advantages to being single. Some examples may be, “I don’t have to worry about the melodrama,” or “I can focus more on getting myself ahead in school.” After all, being single can never bring about the end of the world.

But perhaps the best remedy for Valentine’s Day blues is to quit moping and open up to an all-new experience. V-Day may even be a good time to work on flirting skills and end up with a potential boyfriend or girlfriend.

The Day of Lovers does not have to be gloom-and-doom day for all the single people in the world. The choice is yours: wallow in self-pity and regret not having a date, or throw off the bedsheets and recognize that February 14 is just another day on the calendar. The world does not revolve around your relationship status, even on Valentine’s Day!