The exact origin of Valentine’s Day is unknown. One legend says Roman Emperor Claudius II had prohibited his soldiers from marrying because he thought married men didn’t make good soldiers.
Some soldiers defied the emperor and went to St. Valentine, a Roman priest, to marry in secret. It is said that after the priest was sentenced to death, couples would visit him in his prison cell and give him flowers and letters. Legend says he died on Feb. 14 of A.D. 469.
The other, more accepted belief is that the holiday marks the day that “birds begin to pair,” or choose their mate.
Commercially, marketing of the holiday begins after Christmas.
“I think it’s interesting that most people expect something on Valentine’s Day, that most people expect to celebrate Valentine’s Day, especially those in couples,” said Amie Bostic, an assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at UTRGV.
According to the National Retail Federation, U.S. consumers are expected to spend $18.2 billion on this year’s Valentine’s Day, or an average of $136.57 per person. Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 years old are the most likely age demographic to participate (64.3 percent).
In regard to spending, Bostic said the holiday is “incredibly gendered.”
“Men spend almost twice as much as women on Valentine’s Day and what they buy is very gendered,” she said. “Men buy flowers for women. Women don’t buy flowers for men. Women tend to buy candy for men.”
Bostic said another important aspect associated with the gender difference in Valentine’s Day, and also why men spend so much more, is that there is some sort of social exchange happening.
“Is it really worth spending $150 effectively to get sex? No, especially when there is no real meaning behind it,” Bostic said. “… Men might think that Valentine’s Day is stupid, but they also realize that if they don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day with their partner, or their girlfriend, or the girl they like, that she is gonna be mad, she’s gonna be disappointed because the expectation is that something will happen, and he might miss out on the other benefits of Valentine’s Day.”
A local priest explained the spiritual side of the holiday.
The Rev. Juan Pablo de Jesús Dávalos, of the Parish of the Lord of Divine Mercy in Brownsville, says the true meaning of this day starts with “this sense of being able to provide and serve a partner with benevolence and love.”
Dávalos said the commercialism of the holiday obscures its true meaning.
“Nowadays, if you pay attention, it’s more commercial, there is more you have to buy, there is more you have to obtain, but you forget the true sense, which is the respect that should exist between partners, the love you have to keep fighting for, the love you need to keep cultivating,” he said.
Ingrid de la Torre, a nursing freshman, said this is a day “in which love is celebrated, not only the love among a couple but also the love among friends.”
“It is a day in which we express the love we feel for everyone,” de la Torre said, adding that it’s not just about buying gifts. “For me, it’s about celebrating the love, not only with the people whom you get along with, but with the people you run into on the street and the people you don’t get along with. It is about demonstrating love towards everyone.”
Dávalos said, “For me, every day should be Valentine’s Day,” Dávalos said. “In other words, a day of love, and I think that would make couples very different. But sadly, they leave it mostly for once a year, and then the love, the kindness, the respect starts to dry up, to wither and, lamentably, that’s why we experience so much division in our relationships.”
