Valentine’s Day is a Fraud. Yeah! That’s what Roland Martin from CNN believes:
With retailers hurting and the U.S. president trying to encourage Americans to spend money to restore consumer confidence, what I'm about to say may seem like treason. But here goes: Please boycott Valentine's Day and all that is associated with this horrendous "holiday."
He believes that Valentine’s Day is a marketing scam – a scam perpetrated by “rabid retailers” to give people a reason to spend money. Seems like a good business strategy to me. First start a business, then create a demand for your business and then sell your product. Great strategy that would work. To read the article in detail read Ronald Martin’s Commentary
On the same note, a gentlemen named David Palmer from Central Michigan University writes:
Valentine's Day, unlike Christmas, is an invented holiday. Some wiseacre one day was thinking about how to get rich quick so that he could buy beer. He said to himself, "Self, women are always wanting men to buy them things. Men will get into trouble if they don't. So, the best way to make money is to prey on this." Thus, Valentine's Day was born.
Well folks, whatever may be the case, I think these companies used a really smart strategy and convinced the world to celebrate the Valentine’s Day.
My Independent Research
After some research, here is what I found about Valentine’s Day from Wikipedia and its references:
Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. Until 1969, the Catholic Church formally recognized eleven Valentine's Days. The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome (Valentinus presb. m. Romae) and Valentine of Terni (Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae). Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who suffered martyrdom about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. His relics are at the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome and at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland.
So this just tells we don’t know how Valentine’s Day is related to expression of love. Wikipedia mentions that no romantic elements were found in the literature. Here is excerpt from Wikipedia:
No romantic elements are present in the original early medieval biographies of either of these martyrs. By the time a Saint Valentine became linked to romance in the fourteenth century, distinctions between Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni were utterly lost
However, Wikipedia does mention that since 19th century handwritten notes about love were exchanged and was a fashion in Great Britain.
Since the 19th century, handwritten notes have largely given way to mass-produced greeting cards. The sending of Valentines was a fashion in nineteenth-century Great Britain, and, in 1847, Esther Howland developed a successful business in her Worcester, Massachusetts home with hand-made Valentine cards based on British models. The popularity of Valentine cards in 19th-century America was a harbinger of the future commercialization of holidays in the United States.
The Conclusion
Folks, there was some importance of Valentine’s Day in the history. However, this day was not related to romanticism initially and later in 19th century the fashion started. So, Valentine’s Day was not entirely fraud. Companies have definitely commercialized it for their benefits. You cannot blame the companies for intelligently designing the plan for expanding their businesses. If you don’t want, don’t celebrate the V-day. You have the power to make that choice. Use it.
For those who want to celebrate the day - “Happy Valentine’s Day”
What is your take on Valentine’s Day? Do you believe in celebrating it? Or do you think its waste of time?? Tell us in the comments.
Photo by Muffet
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