Valentine’s day, how have we circled back to this time of year again already? I am a sucker for romance and all things love, but whilst being in a long-distance relationship at Uni how do I go about Valentine’s Day? Should I celebrate as much as my social media outlets tell me I should? Recently, I have constantly been coming across countless videos on TikTok like ‘the bare minimum you should be receiving on Valentine’s Day’, and ‘How I’m celebrating Valentine’s, and it got me thinking…what’s so special about February 14th?
Do you know the special history behind Valentine’s Day? Well, it is a little gory. A long, long time ago around 270AD, the Christian church decided it wanted to Christianize the pagan celebration of Lupercalia, a fertility festival. This festival included sacrificing a goat and a dog, symbols of fertility and purification, and then afterwards, they would then dip the goat pieces into the dog’s sacrificial blood. With this, they would then proceed to swing this sacrificial emblem in the town women’s face to release the purity and fertility onto her. I don’t know about you, but that does not sound like a bit of me. Personally, I prefer the smell of a bunch of fresh roses near me, not raw meat, but each to its own.
But, as I said earlier, I will not be in any close proximity to my boyfriend, so how am I going about this? Especially being in a long-distance relationship, at times it’s difficult in itself to meet up let alone on a random Tuesday in February. Therefore, my boyfriend and I have decided we will celebrate Valentine’s Day a little earlier, something special between us. It is not logical or realistic to meet this year and that’s ok. Instead, we have decided to work around this and not make it an issue, it’s not like it’s a birthday or an anniversary.
The truth about Valentine’s Day nowadays is that it is an excuse to meet up with your significant other, enjoy the day, and appreciate each other. I know some people don’t make a big deal of it, and I know some who love the day just as an extra way to have a date night with the person they love. I find nothing wrong with that.
On the actual day of Valentine’s, I will probably watch some sort of soppy rom-com movie with some nice, sweet treats, maybe some popcorn, maybe a little pamper evening. Maybe I’ll spend it with some mates, and do a little Galentine’s thing instead, so all my friends can feel appreciated too. Or maybe my boyfriend and I might catch up on The Last of Us (our favourite thing to watch at the minute!)
Whatever you end up doing should not make you feel as though you are obliged to do so. Surely, you should be showing love all the time, not just on Valentine’s, right? After all, like I said it is just a random day in February. Anyway, for those who are going to celebrate Valentine’s/Galentine’s/Palentine’s, I hope you have a nice day.
Until next year…