What Has Become of Valentine’s Day?
February 12, 2009 by BloggerNewbie
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“What Has Become of Valentine’s Day?”
I can’t express how tired I am of all the “so-called” holiday celebrations being exploited by commercialism. There are no holidays, only sale days. Say it like it is.
Bobby Finstock of Pointless Banter recently wrote a post describing the blog’s newest sponsored event – a Valentines Day Contest. I just love contests that are easy and this is one at the top of the list. It’s an “anything goes” type of contest. It’s all about LOVE. Not!
I have actually witnessed “celebrations” of Valentine’s day by parents buying children gifts such as bicycles, Ipods, Computers, etc. What the heck is that? Christmas? (yeah, another holiday without a trace of origin or tradition).
And how did flowers, chocolates and now PJ’s become valentine gifts? Do you even know how Valentine’s Day originated? Love notes, just love notes.
I wonder when we are going to get a Valentine’s Day Tree? I’ve seen pink trees around Christmas. How easy would it be to start that “tradition”?
There isn’t a faster way to start a trend than on the internet. We could have pink wreaths, pink lights, there are already more pink decorations than we can think of!
Next, we could petition the government to include Valentine’s day as a required, mandatory day off from work. This would aid in bringing families back together. Even save the sanctity of marriage. The United States of America would survive a breakdown!
We could make pink flamingos the new mascot of Valentines Day!
Is it possible that Valentine’s day could be as big if not bigger than Christmas? Could there be more presents? Is there anything that we could add to the Season of Valentine’s Day that the Season of Christmas day doesn’t have? What do you think? Can we handle another 2-3 month holiday prep time? The shopping, the decorating, the cooking? The pressure, the stress and oh yeah, the joy?
Toodles – Blog Happy!
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“Love: a temporary insanity, curable by marriage…”
~ Ambrose Bierce
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He, he, he…I sound like such a cynic! Such an unromantic soul. I really don’t want love notes or any other traditional gift for Valentine’s day. I usually get them every day!
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I don’t need Valentine’s Day to be any bigger. As it is, I’ll probably be spending more on my sweetie for Valentine’s Day than I did for Christmas.
She says she doesn’t want anything, and I could probably get away with not getting her anything. However, after almost 37 years together, I’m not going to stop getting her something now.
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Hi Dee.
I’m with you on this one. I don’t think you are being cynical … rather I think it’s the gift and card companies that are the cynical ones. Valentine’s Day is a very old tradition – as you say it was about exchanging love notes. When did spending lots of money become an expression of love. I associate spending money with possession, ownership and consumption … not love!
Thanks for the reminder!
Ian
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Mike:
Generally, if I want something I just buy it and that includes flowers. Thoughtfulness can be as simple as a cup of coffee because you were thinking of me..
Ian:
The whole commercialism of any and every holiday gets under my skin. I don’t like to buy someone something because I am supposed to anymore than I want someone to buy me something out of duty. What good is that?
I luv Valentines Day especially as a single person, I don’t have to entertain anyone but myself.
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Im gonna be that person to disagree. So here goes: Who cares what other people make it out to be? If you love someone and you wanna do something really special on V-day then go for it. So it used to be based on notes? So what. There was a guy one day that said, “hey, I wanna do something INSANE for my girl” and he did. It caught on, and some people went nuts, but I like to think that there are some of us who just like the opportunity to prepare something seriously special for the person we love.
And Christmas has an origin. The whole giving gifts to Jesus thing? Also there was some pagan influence (which actually occurred in August.) To blatantly dismiss a religious holiday in comparison to a non-religious one is a little extreme.
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Debo:
I hope you treat yourself special more than once a year! You don’t need an assigned day, just DO IT!
Corey:
It is entirely fine to disagree. I encourage opinion here!
I think it is a sad commentary for “Love” that a day needs to be assigned to do something special for someone. And the commercialism is what is INSANE! Prepare something special for the person you love because of love not because it is expected. That is duty.
And Christmas? The “traditional” American Christmas celebration is hard pressed to find much religious origin. Yeah, Jesus is the reason for the season but ask 9 out of 10 people and see what answer you get.
And while we are on the subject of other holidays, I am still trying to figure out how the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Easter Bunny with candy has anything to do with anything!
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Valentines Day = two words: P U
Commercial and sappy. Frustrating. Another hallmark holiday. I don’t need a special day to show my love to those I care about.
Is there a valentine word for Bah-humbug?
George
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I’m not too into any holiday but it is fun to watch how excited my daughter and her friends get about exchanging Valentine’s at school. They were bouncing off the walls on the way to school yesterday.
Easter is also tied to a pagan holiday which was a celebration of spring and fertility. That’s how the bunnies got intertwined with the resurrection.
I didn’t know people got big gifts for Valentine’s Day. I might get my daughter a little stuffed animal and some candy but I’m not going to buy her an iPod. It hasn’t been that long since I was married but I can’t remember if my husband and I exchanged gifts – must have been memorable
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George:
Total agreement here! You just can’t win. It is rare that there is a win-win situation!
Kim:
Yeah, the kids are cute. I look back on the “exchange of notes” concept and think it is fun that the kids get into it.
I would be more in tune with celebrating some of these holidays if it were not so difficult to find the true meaning. It is so disheartening to watch the farce of which some holidays have become. I pretty much feel like “why bother” and I am certainly not going to get sucked into some commercial marketing scam. Not happening.
any holiday where a store can get their hand in your wallet is something to celebrate. although mr. got me an unexpected gift last year, i don’t bother. very commercial and i do my research…it’s not even a real holiday.
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It’s time to try to take Valentines Day back from the money hungry corporations, and turn it into a day for love, not commercialism.
Take the day to truly love yourself if you are single, or to love your sweetheart if you are not. Express your love without expressing your credit card. Reject the overpriced flowers and calorie rich chocolate, and get in touch with your loving side.
It’s just like the people who hate the 2 party system in America’s government. If everyone who had an issue with Valentines would refuse to participate, it would change VERY fast.
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Val:
Exactly, and I am tired of it. And if we don’t all participate with someone else’s idea on romance than there must be something wrong with us.
My idea of romance or love is when someone does something “for you” unexpectedly because they were thinking of you – cleaned your car because you had a list of too many things to do and that was one of them, surprised you with tickets to a comedy show because they know you truly enjoy that, etc. you get my train of thought here.
Trey:
Great Idea! What Valentine’s day or any other “over the top” celebration needs is a boycott of sorts. Not to refuse to participate but to participate in one’s own way – most likely the opposite of what commercialism wants you to believe is the right way. Yeah, maybe run a contest for the most unique or personal display of love! I’ll work on it for next year! Thanks for your input.
I agree with you about love. I knew I wanted to marry my husband when we had a really hot day in April, my air conditioning wasn’t hooked up and my fan suddenly died. I called him all upset. When he left work he went to KMart to buy me a fan, lugged it back across Philly (on a bus) to my apartment, and then went home. To me that is love.
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Kim:
Now that is love. And it wasn’t even V-day! Imagine that!
GREAT IDEA for a public holiday! Love your blog to bits!
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Kelly:
Yeah, if we have to put up with all the commercialism, we need a day of stress free rest!
Thank you for your kind words, I hope you sign up for more blog bits and come again…