We all know that Valentine's Day is just around the corner. Maybe you've bought something nice for your significant other, or are planning something nice for your friend group. Or maybe you are totally against partaking in this Hallmark holiday and treat this day like any other. Either way, we are all surrounded by the Cupid paraphernalia and heart-shaped chocolates.
Valentine's Day is a day of celebrating love and important relationships. Whether we like it or not, since grade school we are all enveloped in the world of red and pink for a day, regardless of our relationship status. Where does this idea of love come from? When did we start celebrating in on one specific day?
When asked "what is love?" people reply "baby don't hurt me." But on a real note, many people define love as intense feelings of deep affections towards someone or something. Kids will say they define love as they love pizza or their mom. While this young love is pure and genuine, the masses would agree that the truest form of love is represented through marriage.
Through history, it can be seen that the reasoning for marriage never originated from a place of love. The idea of a soulmate never existed. This can be seen with polygamy and arranged marriage. Earlier, people got married to each other to strengthen family ties, protect bloodlines, for money, or even just to legitimize offspring. It is theorized that this notion of marrying for emotions and love comes from the development of the economy and education of women.
Prior to this, when a family owned a plot of land, the kids would inherit and work the land when their parents got old. To increase the labor force on the land, there would be a need for producing offspring to also help out. This was when it was believed that women were unable to do labor and were only known for child-rearing. Nowadays, with the market economy, both men and women are in the workforce.
Furthermore, they also have the freedom to choose what field they work in instead of waiting to inherit their parent's trade. People have more freedom in who they choose to spend their time and raise a child with - if they want. With this newfound freedom, the romanticizing of this old custom has heightened and people have found LOVE! This love that we now celebrate on February 14th! On this Valentines Day, we can all be thankful for having the freedom to date or love for no other reason than pure emotions and compatibility.
Our freedom can be boiled down to one question that we ask this Valentine's Day. As Hamlet once said, "to love or not to love, that is the question," (with slight alterations). Happy Early Valentine's Day everyone!
