BLOGGING THE VIEW: Alternative celebrations for singles on 14 February
There are many reasons other than Valentine's Day to celebrate this day
VALENTINE’S Day is effectively a celebration of romantic love for teenagers, but it somehow continues to put immense pressure on adults through incessant advertising and those blasted cherubs flying around with their bows and arrows.
Named for Saint Valentine’s or the Feast of Saint Valentine, the day started as an honour of the saint, but has morphed over time into a commercial celebration of romance peppered with chocolate hearts, champagne and flowers so expensive they come with a payment plan.
If you are inexplicably single this Valentine’s Day, or just feel the need to revolt against the commercialisation of love, here are a few other ‘specials’ you can consider celebrating this February 14th.
Singles’ Awareness Day
In the United States, the celebration of Valentine’s Day now coincides with the celebration of Singles’ Awareness Day – and yes, the acronym is SAD. Basically, a big middle finger to the soppy romanticism of this day, SAD members congratulate other SAD members with well wishes, high fives and gifts.
Friendship Day
In Finland, 14 February is actually known as ‘Friendship Day’ and is a platonic celebration of those significant people in your life. This is really just an excuse to hang out with your friends and have a good time, but really, who needs an excuse?
Galentine’s Day
Taking it a step further and embracing female empowerment this 2020, why not celebrate Galentine’s Day with a group of your best girl mates. This was first termed by the character Leslie Knope in the television show, Parks n Rec, and while it was celebrated on 13 February, we’ll just celebrate it today instead. A tagline to commemorate this day could be ‘ovaries before brovaries’.
Anna Howard Shaw Day
Another female television star, Liz Lemon from 30 Rock, rejected the nauseating sweetness of Valentine’s Day by celebrating Anna Howard Shaw, a leader in the women’s liberation movement whose birthday happened to be on 14 February. Happy Anna Howard Shaw Day!
Telephone Day
If there’s something worth celebrating every day, it’s the telephone, but the fact that inventor – Alexander Graham Bell – applied for his patent application on 14 February, 1876 (just hours before his rival Elisha Grey applied for a patent for his own version), makes this day extra special for telephones. Why not spend the day calling your loved ones – or just make some really immature prank calls – to celebrate?
TGIF
And, fortunately, this year Valentine’s Day happens to fall on a Friday, and if there is ever something to celebrate, it’s a Friday. Go out and buy yourself something special, get into your comfiest clothes and lounge on the couch binge-watching Netflix. Happy Friday!
